The Night Has Only Just Begun
by Adarkfrostedlove
Summary: Aoko Tsukune is now in his 3rd and final year at Youkai Academy, as the curtain falls on his tuition he finds his troubles multiplying. Tsukune Now only has one year left to right the wrongs he sees around him, and fulfill his fate which brought him there
1. Chapter1: How They

The Night has only just begun

Chapter 1: How They all Slip Through our Hands

AN: I always feel so sorry for Mizore, she's dedicated to Tsukune to the point of foregoing her own feelings for his sake. And even though I support the Mizore x Tsukune relationship because I think it's a wonderful love, logic dictates she's going to lose Tsukune. Moka has two of the rules of Harem manga in her favor. 1) She was the first love introduced, 2) the manga is named after her, it's "Rosario + Vampire", not "Rosario + Yuki-Onna." So I figured why not try writing a fic.

Anyway the story take place in 3rd year of high School, I have only read the first season of the manga so all references and possible spoilers in this story will be from there. Please don't read this if you haven't completed the first season, I would hate to ruin any part of the well constructed plot of "Rosario +Vampire" for anyone, with this story which could be called sub-par at best.

Please tell me what you think, and remember constructive criticism is always welcome, I would like to improve my writing skills if possible. And yeah you know, the normal stuff, I in no way own any parts of any rights to "Rosario + Vampire" or any of the characters associated with the manga or anime, I am also writing this without express given consent from Akihisa Ikeda.

That brisk December morning third year high school student Aoko Tsukune woke up much like he had any other winter morning, the alarm sounded off at 6:00 AM; which he promptly reached over and turned off.

"Morning already," he sighed, "and I was having such a nice dream, I can still remember the way Moka's soft skin felt against mine."

He snuggled deeper into his warm blankets, thoughts of his dream lulling him back to sleep. A loud crash from outside sent him plummeting back to consciousness, with another sigh he threw off the blankets and set his feet on the ground. A mistake on his part the wood floor carried the icy sting of winter on its surface. With the motivation from the cold he leapt into action, hopping awkwardly to his window and opening the curtains.

Pure-white snow covered the entire landscape and thick icicles adorned every building and tree. The light reflecting from the snow and ice contrasted with the darkness of his room momentarily blinding him, It took a few seconds before his eyes could recover from the attack. He scanned the area taking time to notice how the icicles caught the light and made it dance. There sticking out of the ground it appears a particularly large ice crystal had fallen from the roof and penetrated the ground below, a miracle no one was hurt.

Tsukune no longer distracted; became again aware of how cold his feet were and rushed to his chest of drawers. He rummaged through the bottom drawer until finding his pair of black insulated socks.. His feet were still numb when he put them on but with any luck that would pass soon. He rushed about his morning ritual he was going to meet Moka and walk to school together, nut he wanted to get there extra early in hopes of being able to talk to her alone. '_Moka, if only I could defy logic and sweetly fantasize about a day where we walk to school together alone, but I know as soon as we leave the dorm grounds, everyone will begin their steady flocking towards me.' _

He stopped at his calendar; before leaving his room, to mark off another day. It was December 16th and today he was going to ask Moka to come home with him for Christmas holiday. His mother had been insisting they come visit for a holiday seeing as it was their last year in high school. So he had promised her he'd be home for Christmas. With his resolve set he stepped out of his room and traversed the path to the gate outside the girl's dorm.

He leaned against the gate on the outside of the women's dormitory grounds, The usual meeting spot. It was dark and he could barely make out the watch hands, '_6:45 we have plenty of time.'_ He felt it when he set his hand down, a strong malicious feeling from behind him. He had no time to react, hands clasped around his arms pinning them to his side then by a piercing pain in his neck which was subdued by the sudden rush of endorphins.

The clasping hands released him he then discovered his legs were too weak to hold him up, so he let gravity take it's course. From where he lay he looked up at the stunning image of Moka in a skirt, from an under image. Long, tone legs that go all the way up the skirt to reveal a pair of forest camouflage panties. An unexpected and exotic choice, but he approved.

It took him a few seconds for him to remember he was supposed to be angry."Moka I thought I told you, you're supposed to ask before you go and do things like that!" Tsukune exclaimed as he shakily pushed himself back up brushing the snow from his knees.

"Well I figured you haven't been minding lately, you've been letting me drink every time I ask, I thought you didn't mind anymore." Moka retorted defensively

"But still," Moka continued looking disdained, "I wish things could go back to the old days."

"The old days!?" Tsukune blurted out blissfully, _'Yes she must be talking about the days when it was just the two of us, don't worry we can use Christmas as a chance to let our relationship develop the way it should have. Before the interlopers came.'_

"Yeah, back when your blood tasted better, but still thank you. You're a good friend letting me do that all the time, you know it's hard for me to get through the day without some of your blood." Moka explained cheerfully.

Two successive arrows of pain shot through Tsukune's heart _'She was talking about my blood, __and__ she still only thinks of me as a friend"_

Tsukune sulked the entire way to school, responding only half heartedly to the questions and physical assaults of the gaggle of women who seemed to have accumulated around him

Homeroom began at 8:00 Tsukune had been sulking ever since his talk with Moka, he was so deep in his thoughts in fact, that he had failed to realize the peculiar individual who had been standing in front of the chalkboard all morning. He only recovered from his lament when their teacher Miss Nekonome walked into the room.

"Now as I'm sure you all have noticed we have a new transfer student," She called out to the class, "his name is James Masataka he's new to the school so I want you all to take care of him and make him feel welcome."

Tsukune looked up at the new student and his eyes nearly popped out his head. A tall dark skinned man stood in front of the class his muscles were bulging against his uniform, he was easily 6"5 with long thick rolls of black hair. Both hands were in his pockets, he looked incredibly calm even as the entirety of the class gaped at him. An unknown familiarity struck Tsukune as he studied the new student, but he was unsure what it was.

"Now as for your seat," Miss Nekonome went on un-phased despite the obvious shock of the class, "behind Miss Akashiya, there's an empty seat, she's the lovely young girl with the pink hair."

Moka waved encouragingly at James. Slowly He walked towards his seat, Tsukune couldn't help but notice Moka sniffing the air as James walked past. She smiled serenely as her face turned slightly red.

James made a sound "cheh" as he plopped in his chair.

"Now Tsukune as class president I want you to make him feel especially welcome and help him with any questions or concerns." Miss Nekonome turned to Tsukune, he caught a strange look in her eye, maybe some sort of signal, but she continued on, "James do you have all your textbooks and utensils?" He nodded in response, "good then we can start on today's lesson."

Moka seemed to be dazed and distracted in all classes leading up to lunch. What was weird was every class the seating arrangement was the same, with James always sitting somewhere next to her, _'this is too much to be coincidence, right? How he is sitting next by her every class? Maybe I'm just over-analyzing it.'_

By the time the lunch bell rang, Tsukune had decided he was going to sneak off somewhere with Moka and ask his question, but he was going to have to be quick and get to her before anyone else does.

He stood up abruptly, "Hey Tsukune why don't we invite James to have lunch with us?" Moka asked from her desk on the other side of the room "None of you mind, do you" she asked looking around at the flock of girls already gathering around Tsukune.

'_Totally shot down!' _"Well I suppose so, he is new here after all." He replied dejectedly.

Moka nodded as she giggled, James stood solemnly, allowing himself to be lead to the cafeteria. All the girls clung to Tsukune as they travelled through the halls, except for Moka who seemed to be wandering off to the side distracted, while James brought up the rear. The café was oddly deserted considering the temperature outside; Tsukune just assumed that people were eating in the classrooms. Everyone took seats at the same table; there was the usual fight over who sat next to Tsukune, in the end Kurumu and Mizore sat next to him where as Yukari sat across from him. Moka sat next to Yukari, and on her left sat James.

"So James," Tsukune spoke up to start conversation, "Where did you just transfer from?"

"A school in America; Tom Husker academy." James answered, this was the first time anyone had heard him speak, his voice was deep and thick yet his accent was almost perfect for being a foreigner.

"Wow there's a monster school America too, is it as nice as Youkai Academy? You know I always wanted to travel and see other monster schools" Yukari piped in

"Well it wasn't a monster school it was a human school, and no it was nowhere near as nice as this school, the outside walls were not kept in good repair, neither was the bathroom. But the worst part was it was a male only academy."

Tsukune nodded understanding his plight, "So why were you attending a human high school, wasn't there a monster academy where you came from."

"Well I was attending a human school because I am a human." He so blatantly answered

Before anyone could warn him not to be divulging such information three loud crashes came from behind James, drawing everyone's attention, except for James's.

Three stocky men stood with sand colored hair stood behind James disbelief painted all over their faces "Did I just hear you right you bastard, did you just say you were human?"

The air about James suddenly changed; he still seemed calm but a dangerous aura began to emanate from him, "you got some kind of problem with that?" he asked without turning around.

"I thought I had been smelled a human, turns out it was you, huh? Well prepare to become our feast you pathetic weakling"

The assailants changed into their monster forms, each one of them a stone golem twice the size of James. The one who had done all the talking pulled his fist back past his head and let fly a vicious right hook. _'This is bad, he's gonna die, especially if he's only human' _Tsukune screamed in his head as he tried to move to intercept it, _'I'm not gonna make it. Shit! How could I let this happen.' With a sickening crack the blow struck. _But _something wasn't right, James didn't seem at all fazed. Tsukune looked up to see that the large stone hand was stopped right behind James's head with only his open palm._

Surprisingly it was the golem who pulled his hand back rearing in pain, "How the hell did you break my stone hand!? You asshole, you lied! No human is that strong! Let's kill this fucker for embarrassing me and using such a dirty trick to pick a fight!

The two other golems closed in with heavy steps, each one throwing a blow at him, one aiming for his head, the other for his midsection Tsukune made a move to intercept one of the punches while Moka moved to counter the other.

James's face tightened up as he yelled, "No! This is my fight." Before disappearing out of the way of the attacks

"So fast!" Exclaimed Tsukune shocked

Bob Reappeared behind them, "Your attacks are far too telegraphed, I don't even have to see them to dodge, the bloodlust pouring from your fists as you strike allow me to sense them from any direction and dodge accordingly_._

"_You fool you're right where we want you to be, Porcupine Quills!" He explained as large stone spikes quickly erupted from their backs._

_James merely jumped back dodging the spikes, landing with one foot in front of the other, feet toward his enemy, knees slightly bent. His right hand was extended in front of, him palm up, whereas his left hand was behind him, palm down._

"_Moron that's only half of the attack, Porcupine Arrow!" the 10 or so spikes shot out from the golems' back at amazing speed, Tsukune could hardly track them._

_James smiled for a split then there was the impact, the dust in the air made it impossible to see anything. But as it settled, Tsukune noticed that James remained unscathed, as well as the surrounding environment. 'Impossible he destroyed all of the spikes before they could make contact, is he really human?"_

"I thought I told you, if you attack with intent to kill I will dodge it every time, you must remain completely calm in a battle emotions such as anger only clouds your mind and makes your attacks sloppy. Now please allow me to demonstrate the proper way to fight."

He leapt forward appearing in front of his enemies nigh instantaneously, with his left hand still behind his head he thrust it forward in an open palm, it struck cracking though the stone. The strike was followed by a second strike from the same hand, one creating a visible blue shockwave which blasted all the stone from the golem's body reverting him back to his human form, a third successive palm sent him sliding along the floor twenty feet. Bringing his hands together; the wrists resting on each other, in front of him he shifted his feet to shoulder length and bent his knees before lunging both open palms at the chest of his opponent this was only one strike but the shockwave that hit as his hands did told all observers this had far more power than that last combo. The stone exploded off the golem's body before he fell to the ground where he stood.

James Pivoted the top of his body right as a stone spike emerged from the floor, dodging a spike aimed at his back which suddenly came from the floor. He grabbed the spike with his right hand and readied his open hand for an uppercut. As he brought the fist up to make contact the air itself seemed to accumulate around his hand like a miniature tornado before he struck the spike with which resounded with an explosion. The dust cleared quickly and the third golem had already reverted to his human form.

"How?" he questioned unbelievingly, "you beat all three of us without reverting to demon form, just how powerful are you?"

"I thought I told you I'm not a demon, I'm a human." James responded before sitting down.

The golem passed out after hearing the response, "How could a human possibly defeat three B-class Demons?" Tsukune inquired.

"I've spent my entire life training under many different martial arts masters, along the way I was taught how to control my ki, and with the power of ki anything is possible, the man who taught me how to control my ki gave me a demonstration by flying."

"Eh?" Kurumu said astonished, "You mean humans can fly?"

"Well that man had been training his entire life so he's an exception. He is a true master and, compared to those who taught me I am still but a novice, so far all I can do with ki is physical enhancements. I can't even materialize my ki as a weapon properly."

"Wow!" Yukari interrupted, "I never knew humans were so amazing, I always thought that they were only strong because of their numbers."

"Finding humans who are worth anything is like finding a needle in an ocean, it's rather depressing really, that's why I transferred to this school as soon as I heard about it, there were no challenges in the human world so I invaded the demon world, nothing will improve my strength like surviving here."

Moka who had been quiet up until now spoke up, "So are you some sort of monster hunter, killing us for your own gains." She looked hurt

"I'm afraid you have me all wrong, I took it easy on those three, they're all just unconscious, except for the leader I think his hand may be broke. But my goal here is to merely survive, through that alone I will become stronger, after all it's not like I'm starting anything, my being human should be enough to provoke attacks."

"That sounds like an excuse for violence if you ask me; your intent of being here is to cause fights." Mizore added

"I don't intend to cause fights; I just have to get stronger. There's someone who I must defeat, and to do that I must live with my life on the line and continue to fight stronger opponents. All the Human schools people feared me and left me alone worried that I may be prone to indiscriminate violence. But I know that here there are people even more powerful than me; and systematically I must improve until on the day they challenge me I can defend myself. So my methods may be crude and barbaric, even violent but this is the path I must walk, I can never forgive that person for what he did to me. So with these fists I will crush him." With his explanation over he stood and walked away.

"I knew I wouldn't be understood even here." He muttered as he was leaving.

They watched James walk out of the cafeteria, Tsukune could almost understand where he coming from, he has had wishes of revenge against those who picked on him when he was younger. He felt it his duty to explain to him the infinite cycle of revenge, revenge only gives birth to more hatred and revenge. He began to stand up to follow but Moka stood up first and chased after James.

Tsukune was shell-shocked; she had been acting weird all day, ever since James came to school. He dropped back into his seat, _'why is she acting so peculiar today?' _a thought suddenly popped in his head, _'No way. She doesn't have… feelings for him, does she? I always thought she liked me.'_

Kurumu wrapped her hands around Tsukune's head and pulled it into her breasts, "Why so down, allow my breasts to cheer you up, behold Magical Happy Jiggle!"

Kurumu began bouncing up and down causing her breasts to jiggle, before a washbasin fell on her head, "No fair, attacking when Tsukune's unprepared!"

Kurumu quickly recovered, "All's fair in love and war, you'd know that if you weren't a little kid"

"Tsukune's not interested in your advances, you would know that if your IQ weren't equal to of a hammer's!" Yukari retorted.

The two of them erupted in a full on cat fight, Mizore took this chance to close in on Tsukune, "Come on Tsukune follow me to the crooked cliff, if you're not feeling right the best thing to do Is skip class and throw stones into the sea."

Tsukune turned down her request without hurting her, "Sorry I'm fine, just a little tired, besides the midterm is coming up I really need to cram in as much information as possible."

"Suit yourself, I'll be there during class so if you want to skip out we can spend some time alone," her pale face pinkened as she spoke.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind" Tsukune replied rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Mizore nodded and smiled.

Moka, James nor Mizore showed up for the last 2 classes of the day. Tsukune was worried; it was very unlike Moka to miss a class unless there was something seriously wrong. So by the end of the day he was nearly frantic, as soon as class ended he bolted out the door telling everyone to go to the newspaper club ahead of him. And so Tsukune began his search of the school for any signs of Moka. He went to many places the cemetery, the bus stop, the alleyways. But there was no sign of Moka, stopping in at the cafeteria to warm up he managed to eavesdrop on the conversation of 2 passing girls.

"Moka was absent from math and physics today, without her there it was just another boring lecture."

"Moka, do you mean that vampire girl from class 3-3? I heard from Izuma that she was up on the roof with that new transfer student."

"Really I thought she was into our class prez Tsukune."

"Oooh maybe they broke up, now all we have to do is get those other girls away from Tsukune and he'll be all ours."

The girls then walked off giggling and continuing their gossip, _'On the roof huh? I wonder what they've been doing up there this entire time'_ without another second to spare he rushed to the stairwell and up the 7 flights of stairs, _'If that bastard did anything to Moka, I swear I'll kill him!'_ He made it to the roof entrance and hesitated, for some reason he felt he really didn't want to open the door, then after only a moment's delay he pushed it open ignoring that feeling.

The snow had gathered on the roof as it had all across the landscape, and for the second time today the flare of the sun reflecting from the snow blinded him. But he was much quicker to recover this time, yet when his vision returned he wished the light had struck him blind. Standing in the middle of the roof was Moka and James in each other's arms, their lips locked in an embrace.

Time stopped for Tsukune as he stared at the horrible soul crushing sight before him. He tried willing his eyes to look away, yet they stood transfixed on the two people holding one another tight. slowly they began to move as if in slow motion the kiss broke and Moka replaced her lips upon James's neck.

The tears fell like monsoon from his face melting away the snow in tiny drops where it fell. He couldn't bring himself to do anything other than turn around and leave. With the speed he had flown up the steps he descended them, completely blind and numb to his surroundings. He was rushing somewhere but he didn't recognize where. He was only half aware of entering the male dormitory and travelling to his room. A movement from outside his window suddenly caught his attention, something white had moved past his window. He opened it and stuck his head outside looking in all directions he saw nothing other than eternal snow. He shut the window and fell back to the hardwood floor

The tears began to rain freely as his mind raced back to that event. It didn't make any sense, he loved Moka, and he was certain that she had felt the same, all this time he thought she was just bad at recognizing and accepting her feelings. But it turns out all those times she had called him nothing more than a friend, she meant it. _"Absolutely no romantic thoughts at all, how could I have been such a fool how could a vampire like her ever fall for an ordinary ghoul like me?'_

"It was a platonic relationship after all!" He spat bitterly as his sobs became tristful ironic laughs, before degenerating back into tears "What a fool she never loved me, how could she have?"

Just then a clicking noise sounded from the window as it opened. Tsukune looked up trying to regain his cool.

AN: Well that's it for chapter 1, I'll be sure to post the second chapter as soon as possible.


	2. Chapter 2: Devotion

The Night Has Only Just Begun

Chapter 2: Deovtion

A/N: This chapter is told through the point of Mizore, though I may in the future switch to an omniscient POV. Anyway this basically just retells the first chapter from Mizore's aspect, Sorry if this feels like a cop out, but it's the way in which the story flows through me. In due time there will come the explanation of why things happened the way they did.

Just a fun fact the character James in this story is based off of one of my friends from back home, I actually stole the whole fight scene from something that actually happened to him in school, course I made it more spectacular and made it more one-sided.

Anyway, I would like to thank everyone for showing their support, and I hope everyone enjoys the chapter. Also everything involving the original characters from "Rosario + Vampire still belongs to Akihisa Ikeda, nothing has changed since I posted the last chapter.

Mizore woke up much the same way she did every morning at 3:55 Am; five minutes before the time she has set for her alarm. She reached over and turned the alarm function off before springing out of bed. The crisp coldness of the room refreshed and awakened her as she moved about undressing and redressing. After a breakfast consisting of snowberries and milk she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Stepping back into her bedroom, she stopped at her night stand. Reaching inside the drawer, she pulled out her favorite picture, one safely inside a picture frame. The frame itself was a sapphire which had been carved into the shape of a heart with a pure crystal slide running the inside of the heart. It was roughly as wide as her 2 hands with only half the length.

The picture was of her and Tsukune hugging, of course the photo had been cropped; it was originally a picture of him and Moka. But she had skillfully cut Moka out and replaced it with a picture of herself. A slight smile flashed on her lips before she kissed the picture. She replaced the picture in the drawer then pulled out one of her magical suckers, today she chose peach.

It was 4:15 by the time she was finished and was ready for the day ahead; she wore a bright smile "20 minutes, a new record! I should be able to get in 3 hours of observation before walking to school."

She immediately headed to the boy's dormitory, the cold and snow gave her a seemingly endless boost of energy. Tsukune's room was on the fifth floor, third window from the right, so all she had to do was get on the roof, then camp outside the awning just beneath the window. Her natural pale skin and light clothes blended into the snow that surrounded her, all she had to do was mat her hair and skirt down with snow and she'd be invisible in this current climate.

Once she was on the roof she walked 40 paces (a distance she had calculated earlier in her days of stalking Tsukune) then dropped down landing softly on the snow. A cloud of powdery snow blew up from the upheaval but it was quickly swept away by the wind.

She looked in the window, but the darkness of the inside combined with the heavy curtain made it impossible for her to gaze at her beloved while he slept. Instead she settled for placing her ear against the window. Phasing out all other sounds she concentrated on the inside of the room. She could hear the slow, deep, rhythmic breaths of a sleeping Tsukune. She became lost in the melody of breaths, letting it completely wash over her sense of self.

It seemed she had only just gotten there when she heard his alarm go off, waking her from her stupor. But still she kept her ear pressed against the window, Tsukune was talking to himself, she could just barely make out the muffled sounds though, ""Morning already," he sighed, "and I was having such a nice dream, I can still remember the way Moka's soft skin felt against mine."

A spike of rage ruined her bliss, she could feel her powers beginning to activate, the temperature of the surrounding area dropped considerably and moisture in the air began to form a floating spike of ice, "Why is it always Moka he dreams of, he always talks about her, when she's not around he's always moping. It's her, it's always her, can't Tsukune see that I love him more?!" The icicle now too large for her to leave suspended crashed to the ground below.

"Shit, that's going to draw unwanted attention." she muttered before hopping back on the roof. Her body laying flat against the roof keeping only her head exposed over the edge.

Tsukune was quick to make it to his window he didn't open it but he pressed his face to the glass, Mizore felt light headed as she watched Tsukune who scanned the outside of his window seemingly blindly.. Her blue eyes lit up before she retracted her head, '_I was the first to see him,' _though it was true most days she always felt happy when she thought that.

Mizore waited for 20 minutes before lowering the top half of her body over the edge, suspending herself upside down. Tsukune had already changed his underclothes and put his pants on, but he had yet to put his shirt on, Mizore nearly lost her grip from shock. She stared in at her target of affection, her blue orbs hungrily devouring the form of a shirtless Tsukune, and the way his cable-like muscles stretched and flexed as he moved All too soon he had his shirt over his head and had left her area of sight. Though his physique was more physically appealing Mizore couldn't help but long for the original Tsukune, the confused scared human boy who seemed so lonely. There hadn't been a fight in over a year where he needed help. She couldn't help but feel Yukari, Kurumu and herself slowly being separated from Tsukune, the only one he ever saw was Moka.

Sighing miserably, she raised herself back over the roof and walked to the downspout, she gracefully jumped down creating a burst of sight-obscuring snow. By the time the cloud had settled the snow maiden had gone leaving no signs of her having ever been there. Aside from the giant icicle sticking out of the ground, she reluctantly reminded herself.

Mizore waited 45 minutes in a low-lit alley before she saw Tsukune. But in that she had decided she merely had to make herself stand out more, she hadn't lost to Moka yet and she wouldn't quit until utterly defeated. Yukari, Kurumu and Moka had already surrounded themselves around Tsukune, thus the chaotic morning bickering had already began.

After the group passed she began to quietly tail right behind them, no one was even aware that she was there until she announced herself., "Good morning Tsukune!"

Everyone turned around dramatically aside from Tsukune, who merely replied, "Good morning Mizore"

"Is something wrong? You're not your usually energetic self?" Mizore asked worriedly.

"No I'm fine I just didn't sleep too well last night." Tsukune answered monotonously

'_He's lying, I listened to him sleep most of the night and most of this morning, and he wasn't disturbed even once.' _Seeing how it could cause a misunderstanding she chose not to voice her thoughts. Instead she spent that walk fantasizing about a half-naked Tsukune, and how much better he would look frozen like that. _'A beautiful contrast,' _She thought, _'the heat of Tsukune's body forever trapped frozen in pure untainted ice.' _It was only a thought she had fancied for a moment. Though it would be nice to have him all to herself in such a manner, she had promised she would win fairly.

Home room started at 8:00 the teacher was going on about something but Mizore's gaze was captured by terrain outside. So beautiful and peaceful, it brought back memories of her home, a serene snow maiden village atop a mountain. Her thoughts of home brought a calm meditative state to her being, as they always did. _'Someday'_ she thought, _'I would like to bring Tsukune to my home'._

She came back to reality only for a moment. Moka was waving energetically at a tall dark man who was walking toward her. She turned her gaze to the board, _'A new student, his name is…. James.'_

She turned her back to be able to face Moka and the new student. As he walked past Moka sniffed the air, she smiled as her cheeks began to redden. Mizore blinked suddenly, then widened her eyes in disbelief. _'No'_ she said shaking her head as she returned her attention outside _'Moka likes Tsukune, doesn't she?'_

Mizore was in her own world completely missing the lecture of Ms. Nekonome, she tried to pay attention in the next class but Human History was so boring and needlessly violent, she was glad humans like Tsukune were finally being born into the world.

Lunch was always enjoyable for her, any time where she openly got to spend time with Tsukune was enjoyable for her though, _'Moka Invited the transfer to lunch and she's been acting weird all day, I wonder if my suspicions are correct.' _She couldn't help but want her suspicions to be true, if they were Tsukune would be devastated, and then he would accept her; they would bask in each other's loneliness. And in that time she would imrpove their relationship until their love was so strong nothing could melt it. They would suffer together until one day they suffered no more, they merely rested in one another's arms, drawing strength from one another while giving their power to the other.

The clattering of trays hitting the ground drew her attention to the source of the noise. She remembered the three heavy-set boys from her first year; they were B-class golems. Her initial response was to help Tsukune, but was relieved to see, that for once Tsukune appeared to be in no immediate harm, it was actually the new kid. Interested in seeing James's power she merely sat back and watched.

The fight was over quickly, the three assailants lay unconscious on the floor, it took him less than a minute to finish the fight. The conversation following revealed to Mizore (who was not paying attention earlier) that James was in fact a human, just like Tsukune.

"Finding humans who are worth anything is like finding a needle in an ocean, it's rather depressing really, that's why I transferred to this school as soon as I heard about it, there were no challenges in the human world so I invaded the demon world, nothing will improve my strength like surviving here."

Moka who had been quiet up until now spoke up, "So are you some sort of monster hunter, killing us for your own gains?" She asked clearly hurt

"I'm afraid you have me all wrong, I took it easy on those three they're all just unconscious, except for the leader I think his hand may be broke. But anyways, my goal here is to merely survive, through that alone I will become stronger. After all it's not like I'm starting anything, my being human should be enough to provoke attacks."

"That sounds like an excuse for violence if you ask me, your intent of being here is to cause fights" Mizore added, _'Not all humans have changed, this man has just as much bloodlust in him as the opponents he just defeated'_

"I don't intend to cause fights; I just have to get stronger. There's someone who I must defeat, and to do that I must live with my life on the line and continue to fight stronger opponents. All the Human schools people feared me and left me alone worried that I may be prone to indiscriminate violence. But I know that here there are people even more powerful than me; and systematically I must improve until on the day they challenge me I can defend myself. So my methods may be crude and barbaric, even violent but this is the path I must walk, I can never forgive that person for what he did to me. So with these fists I will crush him." With his explanation over he stood up and walked away.

"I knew I wouldn't be understood even here." He muttered as he was leaving.

Mizore watched as James marched stoically out of the cafeteria. Tsukune stood as if to follow him but dropped back into his seat immediately after Moka rose and went running after him.

Kurumu began to assault Tsukune with her overly large breasts smashing Tsukune's face against them, "Why so down, allow my breasts to cheer you up, behold Magical Happy Jiggle!"

A washbasin fell atop her head before Mizore had the chance to extend her claws, _'heh, serves her right for throwing herself all over Tsukune like that'_

Yukari and Kurumu began to fight as they usually did; Mizore took an opportunity in their distraction, "Come on Tsukune follow me to the crooked cliff, if you're not feeling right the best thing to do is skip class and throw stones into the sea."

"Sorry I'm fine, just a little tired, besides the midterm is coming up I really need to cram in as much studying as possible." Was how Tsukune replied.

"Suit yourself, I'll be there during class so if you want to skip out we can spend some time alone," her pale face pinkened as she spoke.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind" Tsukune replied rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Mizore nodded, smiling like a fool, _'He's going to keep me in mind…' _She thought, clearly missing that it was an excuse.

For the rest of class that day she spent her time tossing rocks into the red sea; today her record was 13 skips. Mizore fantasized about a life with Tsukune as she threw the rocks until she heard the after-school bell. She didn't want to leave, but she had to go to the newspaper club.

She slowly headed headed towards the main building, atop the roof she spied someone with pink hair and someone tall and dark next to it. From 70 feet she had trouble distinguishing characteristics, but she was pretty sure that Moka was the only person with pink hair that long, and the other person was definitely James. To be certain she pulled out her foldable binoculars, the resolution of her picture through the binoculars was much better, there were no uncertainties about who the couple was. She folded the binoculars up and set them back in her shirt pocket.

A Mischievous light flashed in her eyes, she was going to watch them until they did something then snap a picture of it. She reached into her shirt and pulled out a small camera, _'Every good stalker hsd a camera on them at all time.' _The two figures suddenly stepped out of sight, putting the camera back away she stepped towards a large downspout connected the roof and began to climb. She reached the top with no difficulty. Sticking only her head and camera hand above the edge, she scanned the area for the couple.

There in the middle of the roof locked together in a kiss were Moka and James. With a sad smile Mizore took the picture. She didn't want to hurt Tsukune by showing him this but it was for the better. They stood together for 20 seconds kissing, until Moka removed her mouth from his and placed it on his neck; Mizore snapped a second shot then put her camera up. She was about to descend the pipe when something from the stairwell door caught her eye, it was Tsukune. He turned and ran the look on his face spoke of his pain. _'Now is the time to move'_ with that she dropped down from the pipe.

As she descended she heard whistles and hoots, she knew why, the air resistance blew her skirt up, providing a clear view of her purple and white striped underwear, "And that's why I love short, loose skirts!"

"Amen to that friend."

"Can I have your room number?"

Feeling tears of embarrassment moisten her eyes she ran away from the herd of boys shrieking, "Perverts!!!"

She ran until she found a barren oak tree to hide behind. _'I'll repay those bastards for what they did later, but I have more important matters to attend to right now!'_ She peeked over one of the side of the tree, looking back in the direction of school and waited. After a few minutes it didn't appear Tsukune was coming this way, so she decided she'd wait outside his window for him to return.

Using her usual tactics she matted her hair and skirt with snow then climbed the downspout. She sat on the awning in a pile of snow, virtually invisible to onlookers. Sitting down she was just barely able to see the inside of the room. With patience she waited, finally it was rewarded when Tsukune arrived. Out of trained habit she immediately jumped to the roof, _'So stupid he wouldn't have seen you, if anything you just drew his attention.' _With that thought finished, as if it were on cue; Tsukune opened his window scanning every direction. Mizore lay as flat as possible against the roof, obfuscating in the snow.

After some time a clicking noise signaled to Mizore that Tsukune had closed his window, immediately Mizore heard his loud sobs, "absolutely no romantic thoughts at all, how could I have been such a fool!? How could a vampire like her ever fall for an ordinary ghoul like me?"

It broke Mizore's heart to hear him like this, it was then she decided that she would break him out of this sorrow, even if it meant giving him her body, even if only to use. With a nod, she stood and shook of the snow from her clothes and body before dropping to the awning below. Creating a thin crystal of ice she inserted into the window lock and pushed it upwards. The window slid open with ease, allowing her access to his room.

AN: And so ends another chapter, tune in next time, things may actually happen instead of being a retelling of past events, or maybe not. I'm not going to tell you, but for those of you who care I will try to put it the next one up ASAP. Don't expect much though; I was pretty lucky to get time off this week as it stands I might not even get Christmas off (course that means 2.5x pay)


	3. Chapter 3: Fruition of Our Plans

** Chapter 3**

**The Fruition of Our Plans:**

**AN:** Yeah after work on Christmas I came back to my empty apartment. It feels really lonely around this time so I decided to write and I completely forgot about it. Also if you think I own any rights to the characters I use in this story you are sorely mistaken; such things belong to the author of "Rosario Vampire" Akihisa Ikeda. So please don't sue me, I'm poor.

Tsukune woke up unexpectedly, he hadn't remembered falling asleep but he could recall the choking blackness in his dream. Considering the fact that his pillow was still cool he assumed he hadn't been asleep for long. Speaking of his pillow, they seemed considerably softer than his usual cotton pillow. Also he wasn't warm he felt cool; apparently he had forgotten to cover himself up.

A voice as soft as snow falling gently greeted him back to reality, "You up already Tsukune?"

"Mizore, is that you?" he asked confused as to why she would be in his room while he was sleeping.

"Yes it's me." She answered gleefully.

Tsukune finally sobered himself up and realized that his head had been resting on Mizore's chest, her shirt was still on but his face had dragged it down to reveal her purple and white striped bra.

His mouth opened in shock then he started profusely apologizing, "I'm so sorry Mizore I don't know how I ended up like that, to be honest I don't really remember much of yesterday. I didn't force myself upon you, did I?"

"Are you sure it's yesterday you don't remember, or today?"

Tsukune looked at the clock 9:00 PM, "either way that's not my main concern, did I lose control of myself and hurt you in anyway? Lately I've been having problems remembering what happens when I use my power, If I did anything to you, I swear I will do everything in my power to make you forgive me. Though you may not be able to, I will work at it until I die!"

_'He's cute when he gets so melodramatic. But to be honest I wouldn't mind it too terribly if he had forced himself upon me, so long as he was gentle.'_

Shaking the embarrassing thoughts from her head she answered, "You can calm down Tsukune, you didn't do anything to me you can stop being so dramatic."

"Phew! That's a relief" he said before exhaling deeply.

"But you really don't remember what happened earlier today?" Tsukune shook his head

"Fine let me tell you what I know…."

So she told the story from the beginning of school until lunch from her point of view, her story was missing large gaps though as she spent most of her time staring off into space. Tsukune nodded at appropriate intervals. He began to feel uneasy as if she may remind him of something his psyche tried to lock away, but he listened on anyway hungry to regain his memory.

She then skipped some facts such as what she saw and instead told the story as if she only had second hand information and guesses.

~After School~

I was walking through the fields outside enjoying the snow when I had heard a sorrowful melody of pain played by your morose screams and heart-broken sobs. The Terrible cacophony called me to your room, I knocked on the door and you let me in. (All lies, though she was poetic in a dark fashion, that's a crazy stalker-girl for you)

When I entered you look devastated, you were on all fours pounding your fists into the ground resounding the same question with each strike, "WHY!?" Many times I tried to ask you what exactly was wrong with you but you refused to answer me. On three occasions you tried to calm your face and emotions but each time the tears broke through your defenses. I offered you my body as a way to ease your pain but you refused, though I must say the way in which you did still makes my heart speed up.

"I couldn't do that to you, that would merely be using you, I couldn't do that. I would just see her, and I couldn't make you play second tier like that. Whenever I am with someone I want to see only them, and I want them to know they are who I see."

After saying that you regained your composure momentarily before it crumbled again, you fell to the floor in agony. But your pain, I felt it too, deep in my heart, I grieve when my love does, so I grabbed you and held you in my embrace, letting you cry on my chest until you fell asleep.

"Still I'm sorry to get you involved in my problems, though I still can't remember what I was so upset about. And you say you don't know either."

Mizore shook her head and felt a pang of guilt, it hurt lying to Tsukune, but he'd know by tomorrow, she planned to do it in a way where it could not be tracked back to her.

Tsukune's eyes drifted back to her chest , she had yet to re-cover herself, and thus he found, he had forgotten what he was about to say picking something entirely else, "Umm, Mizore your bra is showing."

"Tsukune you pervert," she shrieked as her face became red hot, she fixed her shirt while hiding the mischievous smile.

"Ah, I'm sorry Mizore, so sorry, I didn't mean to look, honest!"

"Well I suppose, that since you didn't mean to I could possibly forgive you, but… You're going to have to do something to make up for it, after that long apology speech earlier I'm sure you can find the motivation to do something worthy of forgiveness." With that she left, smiling profusely all the way out of the dorm.

Tsukune sat in contemplation not even bothering to shut his door. She had thrown around words such as love so easily. But thinking back all the girls had been like that, Yukari, Kurumu and Mizore, but not Moka. Was it because Moka didn't love him? He found it ironic, he had 3 girls who loved him, possibly 4 and yet he found himself hung up on the one who might not return his feelings.

Yet how could he be sure that they actually loved him, after all it was easy to say something but to do the thing is entirely different. And for that matter how did one show love; there was of course the physical act of making love, but he was sure that was not the only aspect of love. How could one even know what love was? His head hurt, he had never been too good at relationship issues, he felt the need to talk to his mother. _'Only one day of school left then they send us on vacation. I'll be returning to the human world, I can talk to mom about this soon. But still I know Kurumu is staying at school like a lot of the other students, Yukari and Mizore are probably going home for vacation, so maybe I should invite Kurumu tomorrow.' _With that he made up his mind he was going to ask Kurumu to come home on vacation with him, so long as she was on her best behavior.

"Wait a second!" he said to no one in particular. "What about Moka? I remember I was going to ask her today, but I guess I forgot." Having remade up his mind he closed his dorm door then decided he would call it a night.

Meanwhile outside his window a snow maiden completely obscured from sight laughed to herself, _'Tsukune needs someone to bring home for winter break, I'll have to call mother but I'm sure if I explain it she'll understand why I can't come home. Unfortunately I have some work to do in the newspaper club room so I'll have to cut the observation time short tonight.'_

Skulking around school grounds at night she only ran into one person, a boy who appeared to be looking for someone, he passed by without a glance in her direction. Making it to the classroom and picking the lock undetected was no problem for her; she had long since prided herself in her subterfuge techniques. But there was no time to build herself up she went to work immediately, she had to reprint all the papers cutting out Gin's story and replacing it with a story she had written while Tsukune was asleep, the author was anonymous and the title was "Youkai Academy's Hot New Couple". The way she had written made it seem as though some nameless third party felt the need to speak out against Moka playing with Tsukune and that the story had been inserted without anyone's prior knowledge. She included both of the pictures she had taken to go along with the story. The last thing to do was alter the front page slightly to include a bubble saying "New Hot Story on Page 2."

The final task was the hardest for her; she had to carry all 20 boxes of the old papers to the recycling area. Due to the weight issues she had to carry them one at a time. Joy washed over her as she was walking back to the room with the final empty box. She had worn herself out treading that distance so many times. She placed the last box back in the stack then filled it up with the new papers before sealing it. It was as if no one had ever been there.

As she left the room for a second she thought she felt someone watching her, but as soon as it came it went. Mizore shook it off chocking it up to nerves, and walked down the deserted hallway.

**AN:**Yeah I know, not much happened in this chapter either and this one was short. With a little patience hopefully this story will get interesting. I'll try to get the next one up soon, I should have Sunday off so the next one will be up as early as then, but I can't promise anything.


	4. Chapter 4: A Broken Bloody Heart

Chapter 4: A Broken, Bloody Heart

**AN:** Well it's another chapter in my story, I don't really know what to say about this chapter so I'll just leave it at this. And as for the rights to "Rosario + Vampire" I once owned the majority but I traded it all for a sandwich (Futurama fans should get that joke, it is a joke by the way for legal reasons I must state that I never at any time owned any rights to "Rosario + Vampire" With that said I hope you all enjoy.

This will probably be irrelevant to most readers by the time they see this but 2 more hits…

Mizore woke up at her usual time, 3:55 and rushed about her morning business. She wanted to make sure she was the first one Tsukune saw this morning. So that meant she was going to be waiting outside the male's dorm for some time. From all the times she had secretly followed him on his morning walk she knew that he always took the path through the graveyard to pick up Moka at the girl's dorm, so she waited at the gate on that path.

Mizore rehearsed her lines to herself again, last night after her business in the newspaper club she returned to her room and called her mother to explain why she would be absent during winter vacation. As expected her mother fully understood her reasoning, and even helped her with the lines she would use on Tsukune.

"Mother and father have suddenly had to go to another demon village to settle a border dispute, so unfortunately I have nowhere to go for break. And I was so looking forward to spending my vacation with someone, now I'll be all alone."

"So What about you Tsukune? Are you doing anything?" she continued after a short pause.

"Oh spending time with your family, that sounds lovely, if only I could spend my holiday with my family, I fear my heart may break from loneliness."

She became suddenly aware she had been talking aloud as embarrassment flooded over her. Looking around she was relieved that no one was around. Still she wondered if maybe she was over-acting a bit, her mother assured her it sounded natural , but it seemed a little over the top. _'No it's my plan, it's going to work, it has to...'_

Mizore passed the time doodling in the snow with the tips of her shoes. Time passed slowly for the impatient Snow Maiden, as she was impatiently waiting for Tsukune to arrive. After many sessions of pacing and doodling Tsukune finally appeared slowly making his way toward the gate. Mizore hid behind a nearby snow-covered tree, waiting until Tsukune was at the tree before she moved out blocking his path.

"Hi Tsukune." She greeted him completely nervous.

"Good morning Mizore" he replied shocked and nervous

And so she used her rehearsed lines, surprisingly everything was going as planned, it was almost as if she were dreaming. She began to shake with excitement, while nerves clawed at her stomach turning it sour.

After the line where her mother was certain he would feel obligated to invite him along Tsukune became pensive. _'She did say that I would owe her for what happened last night' _he thought, slightly embarrassed remembering it_, 'But still if this will make her forgive me then I'm sure Moka won't mind, and if I tell my parents she had nowhere else to go for Christmas I'm sure they won't mind.'_

Tsukune nodded before he spoke, "All right, why don't you come along to the human world along with me, mom won't mind and I'm sure Moka won't mind either.

Mizore felt the ugly monster jealousy rear its head deep in her heart, worsening her sour stomach. Although her jealousy was soon sated, after-all she doubted Tsukune would want anything to do with her after he read this morning's paper.

"Speaking of Moka," Tsukune said rather bluntly, "Do you think you could tell her I'd like to talk to her alone at lunch?"

Mizore nodded, _'you won't want to talk to her by then!'_

And so they headed off for the girl's dorm with Tsukune. She walked as close as she could manage without losing her composure. She longed to reach out and grab his hand as they walked, but the calm silence as they walked was enough for her.

Moka wasn't waiting for them by the gate when they arrived Tsukune checked his watch 7:15 on the mark, she was always here by this time. But Tsukune decided to wait, 10 minutes passed and then another 10 did as well. Tsukune just had to accept that she wasn't coming to school today. He felt crushed, he had wasted so much time earlier in the month and now he had no chance to ask her to come home with him. He walked to school that day with a tide of depression drowning him.

They made it on school campus as 7:45 far too late to hand out newspapers, the two of them had no other choice, they would have to hand out their share of newspapers in between classes and during lunch. In the halls he heard the usual morning gossip discussions about popular people, famous people and of course people discussing articles from the newspaper as well as various other things.

But all the people who were discussing the newspaper all were discussing the same thing, "Did you read that special story on page 2?"

"Yeah but who would ever have believed, to be honest I feel sorry for him."

He looked to Mizore and inquired, "Do you know who wrote the article on page 2?

She was caught off guard fearing for a second that he was accusing her of tampering with the papers, but she quickly answered, "President Gin did, I believe it was an article on the closing of the all male sewing club."

"Hmm. I guess news has been real slow if that is the top talk of the town." He said to no one in particular as he opened to classroom door. As he stepped in the lively class suddenly became very quiet, he could feel everyone's gaze on him and could almost make out what they were whispering about. He was certain he heard his name on everyone's tongue, yet he chose to ignore everything as he moved to his seat.

Kurumu came up to his desk obviously excited by something, and whatever she was excited about was probably what she was hiding behind her back.

"Tsukune! Have you gotten a chance to look inside the newspaper yet, there's a story on page 2 you should really read." With her piece said she pulled her hand from behind her back a newspaper, "go on read it, it's already turned to the hot new story."

The first thing he noticed was the pictures, seeing the pictures brought memories shooting through his brain like painful howling bullets. He had no need to read the story he remembered everything, he was there. He saw them kiss.

"So what do you think of this juicy find? No one seems to know who could have possibly written it but whoever did is a godsend." Kurumu cheered

He was in school but still he was having trouble mastering his emotions, he remembered why he had been so upset the night before. The classroom door opened but Tsukune didn't register it, his eyes were still locked on the picture, as the same as the previous day he found it impossible to look away. His emotions were spiraling in a tornado of anger and sadness, one instant wanting wrathful retribution and the next only wishing to be alone so he could cry out and curse fate.

"Um Tsukune?" A soft voice called out at him.

Blindly he turned to face the source of the disturbance, his blank face felt like a mask hiding away his inner turmoil, all he registered that it was Moka, before he turned back to his paper. Meanwhile Kurumu was shooting her dirty looks, Mizore had her head upon her desk, unbeknownst to anyone else she was smiling.

Moka knew something was wrong with Tsukune, "There's something I need to tell you, you see something happened yesterday, on the roof…. And, well it's kinda hard to explain…"

Moka didn't know why she was hesitating so much, after all it's not like they ever together, they were just friends. She inhaled deeply with new resolve, then saw the picture on the newspaper gripped in Tsukune's trembling hands.

"This isn't the way I wanted you to find out, you have to believe me, I was going to tell you yesterday at the club but you never showed up…." Moka tried to explain

"It isn't about the way I found out; it's the fact that I found out!" Tsukune snapped back

"So would you rather I lied to you and never told you!?" She yelled in response to his yelling.

"Why Him!? You've known the person for 1 day and you go and lose yourself head over heels for him! What about us, all the times we had?! What about me?!" Tsukune had to get out of there his voice was beginning to crack and soon the tears would come.

"What about us? What about you?" She replied putting emphasis on the word, "about" both times, "Don't get me wrong Tsukune, I love you. But only in the way someone loves their friend, I'll always be there for you, but my heart belongs to James.

"Besides…" she continued "He has tasty blood, it's like the way yours tasted on the first day I met you."

Tsukune ran out of the room, barely managing to open the door before he felt the tears run down his face. In his rush he knocked over Miss Nekonome (who was about to enter the room), and without a word of apology he ran, He continued to run having no destination in mind he merely ran past all the blurry surroundings, He had no idea how long he had been running before slipping in the snow; landing on his face.

He didn't care to look at his surroundings, He sat up to hug his knees to his chest and sob. His heart had again been shattered, for the second day in a row. He knew it was cold but his body was numb to all pain except the internal psychological pain. Through the sobbing he began to feel a pleasant warmness drift over his body, his eyes then began to grow heavy, much too heavy to keep open.

He laid on his side, head atop his right arm, though his makeshift bed was that of snow, to him it seemed like he was in the most lavish and comfortable of beds with a heavy silk cover stuffed with down. His dream was darkness, but somewhere in the darkness he knew there was a light. He couldn't see it, but he knew it was there, it was calling out his name.

"Tsukune." The word echoed through the murky darkness in regular intervals.

He knew he had to find the source of the light, but the darkness was so thick it seemed to be material, restricting his movements, yet still he fought against the oily black surrounding, moving one step at a time. The voice continued to call out at him, yet he saw no sign of any light in the hellish dream. Frustrated he began to move more quickly, willing the darkness out of his way; which to seemed to work a little.

He only had to hope he was headed in the right direction, though a tingling dreadful sensation was telling him he wasn't. He continued trudging forward fighting the resistance of his surrounding, until it seemed out of nowhere a pinprick of light appeared. Knowing this was the way to go he re-doubled his efforts pushing against the inky substance with all his might. The pinprick quickly grew in his sight, and he found, as he got closer to the light it became easier to move through the darkness. As if the light was banishing the darkness.

Now being able to walk normally he marched forward until he was in the great light. To the center he walked allowing the light to wash over him. His body felt like it was fading, but he had no qualms about this he felt as if he were assimilating with something far greater than himself. The final part of his body faded and he felt complete, He felt a soft warmth growing in his body, and continuing to grow, until it was almost too hot.

Something cool and soft then clasped over his hand, spreading throughout the body counter-acting the heat until he was at a nice equilibrium. Tsukune realized then that it should be impossible for anything to grasp his hand considering he had been absorbed by the great light

Tsukune's vision began to spin out of control before he opened his eyes, his sight was still spinning but he was certain he was in a bed, and also that someone was holding his hand, but his body felt heavy and his chest felt compressed. He tried to speak to call out for water but his voice was small and worthless only creating a strange low croaking noise.

"You finally up sleepy-head?" an unknown voice; soft as a crystal bell, called out from the spinning environment.

"Moka?" was all he could manage to choke out.

A heavy sigh was followed by an answer, "No it's…" she was interrupted by the door being slammed open.

"Tsukune!" another voice called from somewhere in the not so violently rotating room. "I was so worried about you when you didn't come back. Then I heard you brought to the infirmary, and I feared for the worst."

The two voices sounded familiar but in his current state of disorientation he couldn't remember who they belonged to, but was fairly certain they were both female.

The first voice spoke again, this time directed to the second one, "We had a bet and I won fair and square. You've seen that he's okay, now you can leave."

Without any word of reluctance the other person left the room shutting the door gently as they left. Tsukune thought he heard someone crying from outside the room but it was only a momentary sound carried on the wind.

**AN: ** Not sure how long it is going to take me to update honestly, this week is new year's week so don't expect any more updates, I will try to write but my other interests combined with work may prevent me from doing so. But I suppose we'll see in the future. Until then I hope you all anticipate it's release as much as I do.


	5. Chapter 5: A Gamble of Love

Chapter 5: A Gamble of Love

AN: It's a little late, but I would like to take this time to wish everyone a happy new year. Let's hope 2010 is a better. Also thank you to anyone who has taken the time out of their days to read the story and a larger thanks to those who have left comments/suggestions.

This is the same as chapter 2, basically a retelling of the previous chapter, which will make the events from last week make more sense (I hope). I'll try to avoid writing this way on the future, as it obstructs plot development. In regards to whether or not I own any rights to R+V please refer to the Author's notes in chapter 3. With that out of the way please enjoy.

It was 8:20 Tsukune had ran out of class twenty-five minutes earlier and had yet to return. Mizore began to feel anxious; perhaps she should cut class and find him. After all expediency was required if her plan to secure Tsukune was to succeed.

She stood up, "I need to use the restroom!" She interjected unabashedly, Kurumu mimicked her simultaneously.

"Fine then, if it's so bad you girls have to interrupt class for it, go ahead." She replied nodding knowingly.

The girls rushed from the room, racing towards the stairwell, "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do Kurumu, showing him that story then running after him, you plan on making Tsukune yours."

"Like you're any better." Kurumu replied in-between breaths, "You're trying to take advantage of the exact same situation."

"That may be true, but at least I didn't break his heart by writing that article. That's low, even for a succubus." Mizore accused Kurumu

"You think I wrote that? Gin and I discovered it this morning when we were handing out papers. We asked the teacher about it, but she didn't know who wrote it either, she says the writing style doesn't match anyone's from the club." Kurumu retorted in defense

"It doesn't take much to trick someone…" was all Mizore said as she threw open the stairwell door.

They were on the third floor and had two ways to go.

Both girls stopped, contemplating which way to head; Kurumu spoke up first, "let's make things interesting. We each head our own ways, and whoever finds Tsukune gets to comfort him tonight, with no complaints from the other one."

Accepting the terms of the bet Mizore nodded, "My love for Tsukune isn't going to lose to you."

"You know nothing about love little girl!" Kurumu called out behind her as she disappeared up the stairs.

Mizore headed down the stairs at top speed, she was at a disadvantage here, if Tsukune wasn't on the roof then she was sure Kurumu would transform and try spotting him from above. She'd just have to get the jump on Kurumu then, she spotted her exit a window on the second floor landing. Tossing open the window and using one hand for support she slung herself out the window.

The first place she checked was of course his dorm; morphing her hands they made effective climbing claws. His window was still unlocked and thus slid open easily from the awning. A quick investigation of the area told her no one was here. She shut the window and jumped backwards, as she descended she spotted Kurumu flying towards the cemetery, _'That's not good I should have thought to check there first.'_

Upon hitting the ground her legs began their work, sprinting towards crooked cliff. It wasn't very likely he was there, but she refused to lose to Kurumu. With Moka gone it was her turn to shine.

By the time she reached the cliff her breaths were coming in short bursts of steam. The area lay barren of evidence that anyone had been there, so without wasting time she darted away. Mizore continued on her search for an hour; re-investigating areas as she passed them on to new destinations.

A painful tightness flared through her lungs, they were trying to take in more air than they could, and thus were stretching agonizingly. Despite the intense cold she was uncomfortably hot; sweat was dripping down her face. She was worried about Tsukune; and even though it sickened her, she was almost equally as worried that Kurumu had already found him. Her head was light and her legs felt heavy, still she ran on, ignoring a bead of sweat that entered her eye.

For the third time she found herself at the bus station, the only tracks visible were from her previous endeavors here; still no one was in sight. The lone bench in front of the terminal was covered in an unusual amount of snow; but Mizore didn't mind, the snow should help her body cool. She plopped down upon the bench; apparently a layer of ice had formed over the bench and under the snow. She looked up; Kurumu was still flying by overhead, seeing her flying form eased her mind slightly, still that didn't necessarily mean that Mizore would find him either. Mizore spread her arms to either side burying them in the snow. Under the snow there was something, it was stiff as if mostly frozen but it maintained a minute level of flexibility, perhaps it was some sort of cloth. She shifted her bottom against the bench trying to find a more comfortable way to sit. It was to no avail whatever she was sitting on shifted whenever she did. She called forth a gust of wind to blow the snow on the bench away and reveal what she was sitting on.

She stood up immediately, she was sitting stop of Tsukune, his skin had turned red and blistered, and he didn't seem to breathing either. His clothes were completely covered in ice crystals and his lips had turned purple.

Mizore's breath caught in her throat, "Tsukune!" She cried, grabbing him, "Please be alright Tsukune!"

Tears stung at the back of her eyes, _'he has to be alright, he going to make it. He'll be fine,'_ no matter what she told herself a sickening fear from deep within her heart refused to quiet itself. _'The infirmary, if anyone can save him it would be the doctors there,'_ She hefted Tsukune's stiff form into her arms and dashed towards the school.

Mizore drew many looks from students changing classrooms as she ran through the halls. Out of the crowd of students she recognized the group of boys who had harassed her the day before, but again her revenge had to wait. None of that mattered in the face of her love's life, so she continued weaving through the mass of people.

The door to the doctor's office was fortunately wide open. After crossing the threshold into the room her legs suddenly lacked to strength to continue. She fell forwards landing atop Tsukune. She just needed a second of rest and she'd be better, closing her eyes to drive away her tears, Mizore was immediately surrounded by an unexpected slumber.

She awoke sometime later on top of a bed, the sun had already set, leaving the infirmary pitch-black

Bolting upright She yelled, "Where's Tsukune?!"

The door opened the dim light from the hallway illuminated a peculiar looking doctor and part of the room, "He's resting in the bed next to yours missy. Though you know, your friend owes you seriously, another five minutes and he would have caused some irreparable damage."

The man was tall and lanky with shaggy black hair; a yin-yang bandana was worn on each arm; where his frock's sleeves (which appeared to have been cut at half length) were tucked into. You wouldn't be able to guess he was a doctor by appearance.

"So he's going to be fine?" She asked uncertainly, to which the man in the doorway nodded

Mizore let the tears of relief wash over her, the doctor from the doorway took a step forward, "What's wrong with you, didn't you hear me, I said he's going to be fine."

"I-i-i-I Know, but I th-thought he was d-dead. H-hic-he wasn't breathing wh-when I found him." Mizore stuttered through the sobs.

Stumbling she tried to get out of bed but the doctor put his hands on her shoulder, "You need to rest, so don't go getting out of this bed yet."

"But I n-need to be by Tsuku-Tsuku-Tsukune." She said pleadingly.

"Damn it, I have a weakness for crying girls." The doctor said releasing her, "I'll tell you what, you wait here and I'll get a chair for you, just don't move till I get back.

Mizore nodded her head while switching to a more ideal position for standing, sitting on the bed with her feet swung over the side. The doctor reappeared shortly with a chair which he set between the two beds, then walked over and offered Mizore his hand, she took it. Even with his help she was having problems retaining her balance. Her legs seemed oddly weak, so she let the doctor place her in the chair. He turned on the lamp on the nightstand parallel to their beds and began performing a check up on Tsukune

Tsukune was underneath 3 layers of heavy blankets and his face was still red, which the doctor assured was merely a side effect of the warming draught he was given, and that the frostbite was gone. That and he would probably have liquid leaking out his ears while he slept.

Mizore watched him as he lay there; though his body was motionless his face was tightened as if he was fighting against something with all his might. Sweat began to run down his forehead in fat wet drops. Mizore knew he was overheating but doubted how sound of an idea removing the blankets would be. The doctor now being finished informed Mizore that all he would need is a good night's sleep and he'd be back to normal. With his piece being said he left the room shutting the door behind him.

She knew a way in which she could let him cool down to the point where he should stop sweating without worsening his condition. She reached under the blankets and grasped his hand in hers. Touching his overheated skin was almost unbearable to her sensitive hands, but she clung on, to help Tsukune the pain was nothing. She could feel it working as his hand returned to their normal temperature, but not before leaving a heat blister on her palms.

Accidentally she brushed it against his nails which sent shivers of pain running up her arms. But with a wince she continued to hold his hand. Looking around it seemed the doctor was definitely gone by now, so she took this opportunity to lean in over Tsukune. Her face mere inches from his; she softly began to call his name. With each time she spoke his name she moved a hair's breadth closer to him. Mizore opened her mouth slightly as she moved in to kiss him. Tsukune grunted something that she couldn't make out through his cracked voice.

She calmly sat set herself back against the chair but remained the grip on his hand, "You finally up sleepy-head?"

"Moka?" he asked in his dry raspy voice.

'_So his heart still belongs to her,'_ A sudden searing pain shot through her heart as if it had been pierced by a knife.

With a sigh she began to answer, "No it's…" but the infirmary door was suddenly slammed open. Kurumu stood in the doorway face a mess, tears raining sloppily down from her eyes.

"Tsukune! I was so worried about you, when you didn't come back, then I heard you were brought to the infirmary. People said you weren't moving… so I came as soon as I could."

She could sympathize with Kurumu's pain but a cold sense of victory and pride lead her to speak her next words, "We had a bet and I won fair and square. You've seen that he's okay, now you can leave."

Having said that her stomach knotted painfully with regret, _'Please don't hate me Kurumu, we both love Tsukune, but I'm going to win. I have to….' Kurumu nodded and _without any word of reluctance she left closing the door gently on the way out. Mizore heard a few sobs from the hall followed by the sound of running footsteps. Somehow the hollow void inside her grew almost until she was sick.

"Mizore…. Water" Tsukune choked out from where he lay.

She nodded and stood up from her chair too quick in her eagerness. She nearly fell over; only catching the chairs arms at the last second. Much more slowly this time, she pushed herself up. Her knee's wobbled and threatened to buckle under her weight. Slowly and unsteadily she placed one foot in front of the other, there was a sink nearby with a paper cup dispenser mounted to the wall next to it. _'Even if this is all I can do, I want to be of some help to Tsukune' _

She was disturbed that it took all her strength and will to keep from falling over on such a short walk. Something was wrong with her body; she shouldn't be this weak after so little activity. Breathing heavily and clutching onto the back of the chair she inched the cup toward his mouth. When the cup touched against his mouth Tsukune opened his lips to allow the water in. Mizore had to concentrate to keep her hand from shaking uncontrollably as she slowly inclined the cup.

Tsukune thirstily took in the water in large gulps. With the cup empty Tsukune lulled back into his slumber, he at least appeared to be more comfortable now. With her last reserve of strength gone Mizore collapsed into the chair. A sudden sweet smell in the air robbed her of her last reserve of strength. Her body fell forward landing against something soft. Then everything went black.

She dreamt of the scarred man that night, dreamt that he took her away from Tsukune. The he tried to get her back was killed in the process. So she grew old and lived a hollow existence serving as a tool to sate the archaic desires he had. But for the future of her village she endured the misery until the day when she finally broke.

The sweet release of death allowed her to meet with Tsukune in the afterlife. All the pain and sins of her life felt washed away as they embraced and became one. In the end it was a bittersweet dream that paralleled her predicament.

AN:  I hope this chapter was a good one in the next one they return to Tsukune's home, and there's some more foreshadowing.


	6. Chapter 6: The Return Home

Chapter 6: The Return Home

~The next day, early morning~

AN: this chapter is considerably short because it is basically only acting as a bridge between chapter 5 and chapter 7.

Yeah the rights to R+V you know the drill by now, right?

Mizore leaned against Tsukune's shoulder, even though the temperature outside was frigid and her sucker was in her mouth; a strange heat was steadily growing in her body. Sweat was forming under her clothes; but the worst effect of the unusual heat was nearly complete loss of muscle function. Tsukune had all but carried her to the bus stop that morning. Not that she minded it so much, being this close to him was worth almost anything.

As she snuggled into his shoulder she wished that she could stop time and live out the rest of her life frozen in this moment. Her eyes closed and it felt as if lead weighed them down. Yet the sensation of being this close to Tsukune, and the soft sweet human scent was more than enough to make this moment all the worthwhile.

Yet this gentle scent, she noticed only humans that were close to Tsukune had this smell, his mother, and his cousin were the only other humans she had ever found with such calming smells. All other humans were either afraid because they were weak, or stunk of blood and death, like James Masataka and Kiba Aoshi. Thoughts of that man always sent chills down her spine, but as long as her plan succeeded she would forever be free of him.

_'Enough with the useless thoughts!' _She snapped at herself, _'you have Tsukune here all to yourself, and he'll be all yours for the next 2 weeks.'_

She sighed contentedly with that thought, "Are you sure you're alright, I don't want to force you to come if you aren't feeling well."

"Thank you for the concern Tsukune, but I'll be fine; I just need a little rest is all." She whispered softly.

Tsukune's cheeks began to burn a little from embarrassment, but no one was around to say or see anything. Besides, Mizore had been there taking care of him for the last three days, what kind of ungrateful bastard would he be if he didn't take care of her now.

Tsukune was certain Mizore was asleep, her face so serene, her pale skin illuminated by the light from the bus terminal, in this situation she seemed to be ethereal. Tsukune wrapped his arm around her waist, and gently pulled her closer; he wanted to assure himself that she was actually there. He began to put his hand back on the bench after moving her, but a sudden deep breath from Mizore tickled the hair on the back of his neck. A pleasant tingling shiver ran it's course through his body; unconsciously his hand found it's resting spot on her side.

The thunderous roar of an engine exiting the tunnel gave Tsukune a start, looking up from Mizore, he saw the Bus travelling the 200 or so feet from the tunnel to the bench. He placed one hand on the back of the bench and used his other hand to wake Mizore. She didn't open her eyes but it did appear she was at least cognitive. Keeping his hand on her waist he wrapped Mizore's left arm around his neck then stood up.

It appeared Mizore had been steadily getting sicker ever since the infirmary, he worried about taking her to the human world with the condition she was in right now. But he had made a promise to a friend and he would do anything to keep it. Also he saw the way her eyes lit up when he invited her; he honestly doubted that she would allow him to leave her behind, even if she were terminally ill.

The twin doors of the bus opened with a hiss and a release of steam into the winter air. The bus-driver was the same as always, his face mostly obscured by some sort of tangible darkness. The only thing that was unmistakable about him was his white glowing eyes, which seemed oddly reminiscent of the headmaster's.

"You going back home boy? Oh, and you're not taking the whole entourage? You're gonna have a lot of problems to deal with after vacation. Unless, you finally picked someone of course."

The Bus-driver always seemed to be able to see right through you and know what you were thinking, but this time he had guessed wrong, though he was probably right about the problems. Tsukune sighed as he sat himself and Mizore down in the middle seat. _'Jealousy…'_ With that thought he sighed again.

"Do you have any fans on the bus or AC, if so could you turn them on?"

"AC in the winter, do you want to catch your death on this bus?"

"It for my friend, her body is overly warm, I don't know exactly what will happen but I can't imagine it's good for a snow maiden to be this warm."

"Heh!" the bus-driver responded sounding slightly impresses, "Fine it won't bother me any…."

Tsukune couldn't help but sense for the first time the overwhelming amount of demon power that leaked from the bus-driver "Because my seat is electrically warmed"

The bus-driver's response almost caused Tsukune to fall forward in shock.

The Bus-driver flashed his all knowing smile but it was invisible to everyone's eyes, "Well I recently got some packages I need to deliver, so it'll be a few hours before we can get to your house, you up for the ride boy?"

Tsukune only nodded in response, already feeling the bite of the cold air. The bus driver began singing a song in a strange guttural tongue; though the words were harsh the voice behind it was enchanting. Tsukune found it hard to pay attention to anything other than his singing. Sleep soon threatened to wash over him but he dug his nails deep into his palm, the pain helped him stay awake and using his hands helped them stay warm.

The bus-driver stopped the bus as the view instantly changed from the darkness of the tunnel to a barren desert lit by a large blue sun.

The bus-driver stood and offered warnings to Tsukune, "Don't step outside; this is an area where only S-class Demons dare tread. The cursed city of Niffelheim isn't too far from here, so no matter what you see outside these windows do not leave the bus. Also don't let her leave either, that sun is hot enough to melt her instantly."

"Melt her?" Tsukune asked incredulously.

"Like a beautiful ice swan thrown into a volcano."

With a bit of an insane laugh the driver opened the door and left. Tsukune couldn't see the Bus-driver through the window which was slightly disconcerting. Tsukune passed the hours humming to himself the tune of that song the bus-driver had been singing, that and watching the never-changing, desolate landscape before him. Mizore woke up after 3 hours.

Tsukune could not pry his eyes from Mizore as she slowly was brought back to consciousness; she seemed even more unreal as she moved. Her face was no longer flushed and it had seemed her body temperature was dropping back to her normal level. Her mouth parted and let forth a yawn as she stretched. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into deep brown orbs. Tsukune's face began to heat up as Mizore moved her face towards his. Tsukune fell paralyzed, charmed by her eyes.

At the last moment Tsukune closed his eyes, but Mizore turned her face towards his ear, "Thanks for being my pillow." She sang gently into his ear.

She moved back to sitting position and Tsukune opened his eyes, even more embarrassed than he had been, "So, are you feeling any better yet?"

She nodded smiling, "Yes, I'm much better, and it's all thanks to you for making such an awesome pillow."

They passed away the rest of the time of waiting for the bus-driver with idle chit-chat. The arrival of the bus-driver was announced by the hissing sounds of the doors opening. As he walked up the short stairs he looked over at Tsukune giving him a "thumbs up" and a smile. It was only then that he realized that his hand was still resting on Mizore's hip. The sudden realization shocked him, _'bad hand! Your master told you to move'_ was all he could think as he stared at the appendage which still refused to listen to his command.

His gaze drew Mizore's Attention to the hand, "I don't really mind your hand…" she said looking away but clearly embarrassed at her own forwardness.

Swiftly he drew his hand back to his side apologizing profusely. The bus again lurched into motion speeding towards the inter-dimensional tunnel.

"Next stop Human world!" he announced over the loud speaker.

He wasn't lying either it seemed that the tunnel they went through led directly to the human world. They entered through the tunnel, then immediately the background switched to the surroundings of the human world.

Tsukune always felt giddy when he returned home, truth be told he enjoyed it at Youkai academy but there was nothing that compared to the safety and tranquility of home. The bus terminal that they were dropped off wasn't too far from his home, only a 20 minute walk.

"My mom's going to be surprised to see you again," He said as they walked towards his house, "last time there were a lot of misunderstandings. Things got a little hectic with all of you here, but with only one of you, I shouldn't have to worry about things getting out of hand."

"Yeah, sorry about that." She felt deep regret, that summer she had let anger cloud her judgment and thus acted recklessly.

Sensing the mood change Tsukune quickly responded, "But mom is pretty forgiving, I'm sure if you show her the Mizore that I know she'll adore you."

Mizore looked up at Tsukune; he flashed his encouraging smile after his words. She couldn't help but smile in return as they continued up the street. She wrapped both her arms around Tsukune's and pulled it closer to her body. The rest of the walk was spent in an embarrassed silence.

If only they had noticed the two men in black suits leaning against a magazine stand following them with their eyes. One of the men pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. He flipped it open and went through his contacts until he found boss, he hit enter. After 2 rings Kim Lee; the boss's secretary, answered.

"Tell the boss we think we found the girl he's been looking for." With that he closed his phone cutting of the call.

The two men with sinister agendas shadowed the young couple all the way to Tsukune's house.

AN: Well that's it for this update; since it was short and didn't take much time to write at all, the next one should also be out later this same week. In the next one it's a date, a date where and between whom? Well you should know the whom, but you'll have to read the next chapter for the where.


	7. Chapter 7: Holidate

Chapter 7: Holidate:

AN: I'm pretty excited about this chapter I had a lot of fun writing it and I can only hope that everyone has as much fun reading it. This chapter basically covers Mizore and Tsukune's date, their relationship is yet to be official even at the end of this chapter(speaking in terms of this fic of course) but I promise that it will be soon, just 2 more chapters (I think).

All rights on "Rosario + Vampire" belong to Akihisa Ikeda not me.

Tsukune knocked on the door to his house then waited patiently for the door to be answered. Loud footsteps were followed by the door swinging open; Kyouko, his cousin had been the one to answer the door

"Eeeh, It's only Tsukki, what are you doing knocking? You should have just let yourself in, after all you live here." She greeted as she stepped out of the doorway.

"Making me get up to answer the door I thought it was someone important" she muttered as she walked towards the kitchen,

But her faux anger was exposed when she exclaimed, "Tsukki's back!" from the kitchen.

Tsukune stepped in and slid his shoes off; he looked back and saw no trace of Mizore from the doorway. He stuck his head out and called her name, but no response. Wondering where she could have run off to he scanned both sides of the street before finally spotting her; she had hid underneath one of his windows.

"You should come inside, it's much nicer." He said motioning her to come in with his hand.

"Are you sure she won't mind?" Mizore asked inclining her head towards the window.

Tsukune looked inside, his mom and cousin were busy making something in the kitchen, "Mom should be fine, she's a pretty level headed person..."

"Not her" she interrupted shaking her head, "your cousin, she knows what I really am."

"Well Kyouko likes to put up a tough appearance but we've been close since we were little kids, she has a good heart inside her. Though, it may take her a while for her to warm up to you, but that's more because she's a little over-protective of me."

Mizore stood up as a gust of wind caught her hair and tugged gently at her clothes, "It must be nice to have someone like that looking after you." She muttered her attention elsewhere.

"To be honest I have many people who I think feel the same way about me, and I feel the same way about them. But I'm not the only one blessed with friends like that; you have the same friends I do, Moka, Kurumu, Yukari, and Ruby. That's something to keep in mind. Because no matter how many petty quarrels you may have with those around you, they are your friends. And they will be through thick and thin, and so will I"

He stretched his hand out further after his speech; Mizore thoughtlessly grabbed it, allowing Tsukune to lead her inside. She slipped off her tennis shoes and placed them next to Tsukune's.

Tsukune's mother poked her head out the kitchen, "Could you close the door dear, you're making it awfully chilly in here." Her gaze drifted to Mizore, "I believe we met once before, during Tsukune's summer vacation, right? I'm Aono Kasumi, Tsukune's mother." She said sticking out her hand, "But I can't seem to remember what your name was."

"Shirayuki Mizore." She replied abashedly grabbing Kasumi's hand.

"What a lovely name, your pale skin fits it well, and your hands are so cold. Go take a bath and warm yourself up dear. Tsukune I'm going to need your help in the kitchen. And Kyouko could you run home and get Miss Shirayuki something to change into."

"Yes aunt Kasumi," she responded, leaving the kitchen and heading into the hall.

Tsukune walked into the kitchen as Mizore headed upstairs. She kept her bath time short; quickly washing away the fever sweat from earlier. The ice cold water soothed the aches and sores from the previous day. As she was stepping out of the tub, the bathroom door slid open, instinctively Mizore covered what she could with her hands, before shrieking.

Tsukune came running up the stairs a boiling pot of Udon in his hands. A swift, unexpected kick in the head sent him flying down the stairs landing on his back. Miraculously none of the soup spilled from the pot.

"Stay down there Tsukki!" Kyouko yelled threateningly.

Mizore relaxed when she saw it was just Kyouko who stepped in and closed the door behind her.

"Sorry about the fright, I got you some clothes you can borrow, they probably aren't your style, but they should fit." Mizore bowed in thanks after accepting the clothes.

"You don't have to do anything like that, it's embarrassing," Kyouko said uneasily, while rubbing the back of her head.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Tsukune and his mother were having a conversation.

"What happened to that lovely Miss Moka, wasn't she supposed to come down?" His mom inquired as she stirred chopped leek into the soup.

Tsukune answered his voice sounding distant, "She, had something else to do so she didn't come."

"Is that why, or is it because you didn't ask her?"

Again he responded, "She had something else to do."

"So why did you invite Miss Shirayuki instead of Moka, do you have feelings for her?"

"Mizore's one of my good friends from school, and she has been taking care me for these past few days."

"So she must have been the one who called yesterday."

Tsukune turned to face her confusion painted on his face, "What did she call about?"

"Oh she informed me that you wouldn't be able to make it home yesterday, that you had fallen ill in class and had to spend the night in the infirmary. She was very polite over the phone, but her voice was dry and I could hear her as she tried to hide her sobs. I think she may have been crying over you. Poor girl must have been deathly worried."

Tsukune nodded, he couldn't help but feel touched, he was going to explain to his mom what had happened when he got home but Mizore had already done that. Still that was not what touched him, the fact that she would be so deeply worried about him. But it saddened him as well, getting over Moka was going to be a challenge, and he wasn't one hundred percent sure he could climb that cliff.

Tsukune spied Mizore from the doorway she donned a loose green shirt with the English words Mountain Dew emblazoned on the front, matched with a pair of blue jeans that were a little too long and apparently a little too wide. She had to hold the pants up with one hand, and still she was walking on the pant legs.

"Kyouko?" Tsukune's mother asked smiling, "Don't' you have some nice Kimonos that Mizore could borrow?"

"But what's wrong with those?" Kyouko demanded heatedly

"Well, for starters those clothes don't even fit you even though you're taller and have a bigger frame, they're also not very nice clothes to begin with, and lastly, well how should I put it, I just don't think those clothes suit her too well. I think a light colored kimono would bring out the fairness of her hair and skin."

Mizore began to speak, "No these are fine I don't…" but was interrupted by Kasumi.

"Nonsense, Kyouko doesn't mind, do you Kyouko?" she asked in a manner telling Kyouko it would not be wise to disagree.

"No not at all auntie Kasumi." Kyouko responded defeated, before leaving the kitchen.

"Tsukune you keep stirring the Udon I'm going to talk to Miss Shirayuki upstairs."

"Yes mother." Tsukune called out obediently.

"Please call me Mizore." She said as they turned towards the doorway

Kasumi wrapped her arm around Mizore and lead her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. In the master bedroom She helped Mizore take off the baggy clothes, talking while she removed the articles.

"Mizore.." she started but then paused to organize her thoughts before continuing, "Why isn't Moka here? Tsukune was so excited about bringing her back for Christmas, he asked for permission during summer."

"Tsukune's feelings were hurt, after all they've been through Moka dropped him for some new boy, Tsukune walked in on them kissing and was crushed."

Tsukune's mom placed her hand over her mouth to cover a gasp, her eyes wide in disbelief, "I see that must have been hard for him to see. I can understand him not wanting to talk to her for a while, but sooner or later he's going to have to face her again. After all just because she has a boyfriend doesn't mean she doesn't still need her friends. I just hope he'll be able to see that and fix things before it's too late. After all despite the awkwardness I'm sure she would have been more than delighted to come along with you guys."

Mizore felt some admiration for the other woman in the room, such simplistic words of wisdom spoken in calmness and clarity even after such news; she was obviously a good mother to raise a son with such similar views.

"Anyway since Moka isn't here, I see no further reason to talk about her. I should instead thank you for the call yesterday I must admit knowing that Tsukune was alright put my mind at ease, when he hadn't come home I began to dread. But if you don't mind my asking, why were you so sad when you talked to me?"

"it was silly, but Seeing Tsukune like that; not moving and freezing to the touch. It made me worry that… Well, I was worried that he wasn't going to make it, and I didn't know what I would do, if he were to suddenly disappear like that." Mizore felt embarrassed as those words hung on in the air

"I see, so I have only one more question. Do you love Tsukune?" Kasumi asked rather bluntly, her face as serious as Mizore had ever seen it.

Locking eyes with the older woman she nodded resolutely, then after a brief pause she spoke, "But I don't know how Tsukune feels about me, he's saved me many times, but I think to him we are only friends."

Kasumi hugged the naked girl to her chest gently; tears that were gathering at her eyes began to leak from Mizore's eyes in that warm embrace, "Don't worry Tsukune may be a bit slow, but he's not stupid, he'll see what's in front of his face someday, for now we have to concentrate on getting Tsukune out of this slump he's put himself in. And I believe you should be able to do that."

"How?" she asked simply wiping away her tears.

"Just trust my mother's intuition." Kasumi answered a gleam in her eyes.

A knock from the door followed by it opening announced the arrival of Kyouko, she had a pile of Kimono's in her arms, "I don't really like wearing Kimonos too often, so you can just keep these." She said placing them atop Kasumi's bed.

She turned and began to head out the door, "don't you want to help dress Mizore?" Kasumi called to her retreating form.

"No thanks I need to get back downstairs and help Tsukki in the kitchen, you should know better than to leave him alone with the soup, that boy could burn the house down trying to boil water."

After sharing a laugh Kasumi agreed with Kyouko, "Well then I need you to hurry up and get down there, you know the house hasn't been paid off yet."

Kasumi looked through the 5 kimonos picking out a baby blue kimono with white snowflake designs stitched into it, "This one would look perfect on you." and without waiting for an agreement she began to dress Mizore, putting on the kimono and tying it off with an obi the same of the same color. Mizore noted that it fit like it had been made for her, and that the material was an expensive silk that felt soft against her skin. The Kimono hugged to the right places while still providing freedom of movement. It was cut short, ending with 6 inches of exposed shin, the way she preferred her kimonos cut, the long cut ones always caused her to trip and lose her balance.

"Ah I'm so jealous." Tsukune's mom squealed gleefully, "Your skin is naturally so pale and your lips are naturally full, you don't even need to wear any makeup.

Mizore felt embarrassed by Kasumi's kind words; coming from a woman as beautiful as her, it almost felt like an insult though, "May I see myself?" she asked a little shakily.

"Of course follow me," Kasumi lead her to the closet where she opened the door to reveal a mirror mounted to the other side of the door.

She was stunned by her appearance, she looked so small and frail in the kimono; like a pretty little porcelain doll, especially with her cheeks flushed the way they were.

Mizore watched from the mirror as Kasumi wrapped her arms around her from behind, then whispered in her ear, "I was right, Kimono's really suit you, you look absolutely stunning in this, Tsukune's going to have problems looking anywhere else tonight."

"Matter of a fact," she continued on in a more joking manner, "I may have to tie him down tonight to keep him trying to do anything reckless, as teenage boys tend to try to do."

Mizore smiled as her cheeks heated even more, as she thought about the possibilities of what Kasumi was talking about.

"Here take this pair of sandals if you guys decide to go anywhere, tennis shoes don't exactly match dresses" she said reaching into a chest on the closet floor, it was filled with a small assortment of various shoe types.

"Come on let's go downstairs, I want to see Tsukune's reaction, but you stay behind me until I give the signal." Kasumi said cheerfully as she stood.

Mizore shadowed her as she had been told, walking down the stairs behind her and stopping when she stopped in the kitchen doorway.

"Oh Tsukune." His mother called, "There's something I'd like you to see," she said as she moved to the side revealing Mizore

The glass of water he had pressed to his lips suddenly crashed to the floor shattering, sending glass shrapnel flying every direction. His eyes bulged from his head as if they were about to pop out and his chin was nearly buried in his chest.

"Mizore? Is that you ?" he asked rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

The attention made her a little uncomfortable, but she found the strength to speak, "Do you like it, I got it from Kyouko."

Tsukune found it incredibly hard to speak stumbling over his words until finally managing to blurt out a "yes."

Kasumi smiled and turned to Mizore quietly speaking, "I told you so." Then turned back to Tsukune, "why don't you show her around the town, it's the first day of holiday I couldn't have you working all day, especially not when you have a friend over. Go ahead and get out of here, I'll take care of the cup cleanup."

Tsukune nodded numbly still captivated by the almost unnatural beauty pulsating from her body, a beauty so bright he feared he would lose either his sight or mind if he continued to take it in. Yet he feared even worse the prospect of looking away. Though he nodded, he continued to stare at Mizore dumb-founded. Mizore met his gaze and for a moment they stared in each other's eyes the world melting away as well as their thoughts.

Kyouko came up behind Tsukune and smacked the back of his head, "What are you waiting for? Your mom told you to go out and show her the town. So why are you staring into space like you've been sedated?"

Tsukune was back in reality but he still kept his sight locked on Mizore, "Ok." He responded distantly; walking to Mizore to whom he offered his arm.

Naturally she accepted and followed Tsukune back into the hallway. Tsukune's penetrating gaze looking her up and down made Mizore felt happy, it was always much harder for her to gain his attention. Many times she began to wonder if she had any sex appeal, well apparently she did, but she hadn't been using it right all this time.

They threw their shoes on and opened the door, arms still locked they walked the streets of Tsukune's town. Today it was quiet, no cars were on the road, though there were people scattered about, off on their business. As they walked on, Mizore contemplated her choosing to go outside dressed in such a manner. She admitted it was nice having Tsukune's eyes directed at her, but she could feel the malicious intent of all the other men who passed. They either whistled or spouted out some lewd comment, and they all stared too long.

She felt very vulnerable right now and clung on tighter to Tsukune, she was worried what may happen if he left her alone for even a second. Tsukune was trying his best to shield her from prying eyes, staring down the onlookers who had an almost desperately hungry look in their eyes. She giggled to herself, her worry dissipating; it felt nice to have Tsukune get so worked up over her. She rested her head on his shoulder; eyes closed and allowed and c0ontinued to walk, she trusted his navigational skills.

The first place they stopped in was "AMP!" a very poplar arcade not too far from his house. Tsukune worried about taking her inside because of all the freaks who hung out there, so he voiced his opinion.

"Don't worry about it, I'm going to be with you, and I know you won't let anything bad happen to me. So let's just enjoy our time here and not let anyone ruin it." Having said that she pulled Tsukune into the arcade.

As always the arcade was jam-packed with people of all ages spending their allowances to improve their gaming skills and take on any challengers. Video games were incredibly competitive around this area, and thus the arcade stayed prosperous. Flashing lights and loud noises assaulted them from every angle. He became very aware of the sudden lack of Mizore's arm in his. Looking to his right expecting to see her having an anxiety attack; her hands were pressed against her cheeks mouth open in wonderment.

"Wow! I've never been in an arcade so big before!" she yelled clapping excitedly and jumping up and down.

Tsukune was not expecting that, "You've been in an arcade before!? I thought you were anti-social!" he screamed over the explosion from the Mini Bike game to their right.

"Well," she explained, "I like to sneak into arcades when they're closed, so no one's around. Sometimes when I cut class I go into the tunnel, I know the way to a good arcade that's closed during school hours. The machines are usually turned off so I learned how to turn them on."

He really couldn't say that was odd, because for her it really wasn't, so instead he smiled, "what do you want to try first?"

"An arcade this big has to have and arcade adaptation of BlazBlue right?"

He nodded, "But you know I'm pretty good at that game I bought it over summer break and got real good with Ragna the Bloodedge, who do you play as?"

"Well I'm good with all of them but I like the elegance of Noel Vermillion's moves the most."

They headed to the yen exchange booth, Mizore began patting herself down looking for her money, "I appear to have left my money at your house." She finally concluded.

"No problem." Tsukune replied wallet already in hand. He handed the man behind the counter a thousand yen in return for 40 tokens in a paper cup.

With that finished they headed over to the BlazBlue Machine. Two men appearing to be around their age were gathered in front of it locked in furious combat. It was a close match to the end but the boy on the left who played as Arakune emerged victorious. The screen flashed to the game over screen, that was when Tsukune lost any hope of ever being able to play it, they had 100 tokens in there which meant they had 50 more matches.

"Well," the one on the right said heatedly hitting the start button, "the score's 26-24, your only 2 ahead, so don't get cocky!"

Mizore stepped forward speaking softly, "Excuse me but could I play the winner of the last round, I've never played this game before but it looks fun."

Tsukune thought she sounded like a naïve, air-headed girl from a manga, but the left boy shoved his friend suddenly from the machine, "Please, it would be my honor," he said bowing with his hand outstretched.

She laughed innocently, but Tsukune could see through her charade. Mizore stepped up and placed her hands near the controls.

"I'm sorry but if I win can I play with my friend back there using your credit?" she asked as she turned to point at Tsukune,

"Fine! But, if I win, you, have to give me… a kiss!" he responded putting weird spaces between his words as if having to fight the word's out.

Mizore cocked her head to the side, "Okay." Tsukune saw the smirk she flashed as she looked back at him.

He moved up to get a better view of the match; her opponent had already chosen Arakune, Mizore circled around all the characters once before selecting Hakumen. Her choice surprised Tsukune, to his knowledge no one was really good with him, was she trying to lose? No, he had to have faith in her.

Laughing sadistically, the man turned to face her, "You couldn't have picked a worse character, you may as well not even play and just get those lips ready."

"You really think so?" She asked sounding oblivious, "But shouldn't you be paying attention to the screen, the match is about to start." Her face became serious as she focused on the screen in front of her.

With a cry of "rebel!" from the loud speaker atop the system, the match began. Mizore immediately began her offensive, closing the distance between their characters with a dashing sword stroke. She effectively strung her combos together to ensure that anytime he was able to recover, her new attack was already in progress. Both matches were decided in 20 seconds a piece, Mizore's victory, flawless finish. Tsukune began to worry, he brought her here hoping to be able to show off, but she really knew her way around her games.

"Y-you beat me?" he asked rhetorically in his shock, but he quickly regained his composure; anger overriding ssurprise.

"You little whore! You lied to get free plays, you'll pay for embarrassing me like that!" he raised his hand and begun the wide arcing swing to slap Mizore.

She moved to intercept it but Tsukune caught it first, so she acted like it was a flinch, "Not only do you insult her but you also raise your hand against her!" He squeezed his hand cutting off the blood flow.

His eyes changed to blood-red as his righteous fury flowed from his fists, "Don't ever let me catch you here again, I won't be so forgiving next time!"

Tsukune pushed him down by the gripped hand; with a, "cheh!" the boy stood up and left the arcade.

Tsukune felt a none-too soft punch in his back, he turned expecting to have to deal with the guy's friend, but it was Mizore, "You idiot, you didn't have to go that far," still her smile told him she wasn't mad.

After seeing her little demonstration earlier Tsukune fully expected to lose every match. His premonition was soon proven correct, all ten matches they played he lost, miserably. Though he was at least happy that she only got one perfect round on him. After her tenth round set she gave the rest of the plays to a group of small kids, who were in the crowd that had gathered around Mizore.

The rest of the day was like this; whatever they played Mizore was insanely better than him, DDR, Karaoke Hero, all of the racing games. Even on Time crisis 4 she managed to almost double his score. Upon leaving the arcade Tsukune realized just how much time they had spent there, his watch told him it was 1:15 PM. His pride had been scarred deeply in there; he doubted he would be going back anytime soon.

At least he felt he could get his sense of manliness back by treating her to lunch, she was probably hungry anyway, "You Hungry? He asked plainly; he felt simplicity was best.

"I could go for something to snack on, is there a sweets shop nearby?"

Tsukune nodded and lead her to "Hiruma Botan's Snack Shop" where they each got an order of dango, Mizore also got some homemade pocky. They enjoyed their treats in solitude when their order arrived. They were sitting on the patio and thanks to the winter weather, everyone else consumed their sweets indoors. Though they were alone and in such an atmosphere he couldn't bring himself to say anything, he was oddly flustered and kept losing his sense of time and place staring at Mizore.

"Does it really look that good on me?" she placed her last Dango stick on the small plate they had came on

"Yes," he replied immediately, his cheeks exploded with heat after having been caught staring like that, "I think it looks very nice on you." He looked away.

Tsukune suggested returning home after leaving the shop, Mizore agreed. Tsukune looked worn out as they journeyed back home, but he was genuinely smiling. The pain and rejection that were so prevalent in his emotions these past days were gone. His mother had not been wrong, but she was not sure what exactly had she done. Perhaps Kasumi would explain what happened when they got back home, but for now she was happy to have the old Tsukune back.

AN: People have been wondering when exactly Tsukune's heart is going to start healing and the answer is soon, in fact it had already started but I plan on making it a gradual process as these things often take time to fix themselves. Plan on problems that strengthen their relationship, the next few chapters may be a little darker than the previous ones but remember even in the darkness there's always a small light at the end.

Also I know it seems I keep putting off the resolution of Moka and Tsukune, and that is not wrong, I am waiting. I already have the notes for that chapter and I plan to write it soon, but it will not be until winter break is over, but I promise it will be the first thing resolved when they return to Youkai academy. I'm not sure how much longer it will be, but the next couple of chapter are going to be fairly long so I can get through this as quickly as possible. Thank you all for your time and for reading.


	8. Chapter 8: Separation

Chapter 8: Separation

AN: This chapter ends in a pretty big cliff hanger, and a new OC is introduced. Is he a good guy, or is he a bad guy? Well I'm sure you'll all know soon.

And please don't sue me, we don't need that kind of hate in this world, I am not pretending to own or hold permission to use any of Akihisa Ikeda's idea's or characters.

It's going to be a while before I update again I had reconstructive surgery done to my right hand and can now only type with my left. Also I apologize for any spelling errors/grammatical errors/ misused words, I have read through it several times but was under the effects of morphine while doing so, so there are bound to be a lot. Despite the errors I hope that this is still a enjoyable read, enjoy.

Tsukune slid the door to his house open; the house seemed to be livelier, loud conversation was drifting from the living room into the hallway. Kyouko, his mother, and another voice belonging to a male that he didn't recognize, were all deeply engulfed in whatever they were talking about. He took his shoes off as Mizore slipped off her sandals. They walked towards the living room; the unfamiliar man sitting on the couch was vividly explaining a past occurrence that the two women seemed to be fully engulfed in. Tsukune cleared his throat, interrupting the story mid-word.

The suit donning man turned to face him, for a mere second he looked ready to murder whoever had interrupted his story but the look melted away quickly replaced with a smile, "And you are?" he inquired offering Tsukune his hand.

"I do believe that's my line" He had a tight grip that almost hurt his hand; Tsukune felt an instant dislike of this person.

"Of course," he said beginning to shake his hand,, "Where are my manners, my name is Kiba Hayate, I've been seeing Kyouko here for 2 months now and she wanted me to meet her aunt and her little cousin."

"My name's Aoko Tsukune, I would be Kyouko's cousin." As he gave his name he tightened his grip to match his opponent's.

Again there was the brief look of murderous intent but it was quickly melted by the smile, "So are you really as helpless as Kyouko makes you out to be."

"A lot of things have changed since I entered high school; I'm no longer the same Aoko Tsukune I was when I was a child."

"Big man a high school kid, " Hayate said mockingly, "Me I'm in the real world already, making a 7 figure income from DynaTech."

"Oh quit teasing Tsukune, he'll grow up and make a fine man someday, but in order to do so he has to make it through high school first." Kyouko interjected jabbing him lightly on the arm.

"Right you are." He said removing his hand from Tsukune's.

"Where's Mizore, she should introduce herself too." Kyouko asked

Tsukune noticed she had disappeared from the hallway, he hadn't felt her leave, he was too caught up with this Hayate individual. He checked near the entrance, but her sandals were still placed neatly next to his own shoes. He decided to check the upstairs. He checked every room making sure to knock before entering; finally he found her sitting all alone on the guest bed with her knees hugged to her chest. A frosty draft filled the room although there were no windows open. Her hair covered her eyes.

"Mizore?" he called out to her from the doorway.

The draft immediately began to fade away, as she stretched her legs out in front of her, "Are you ok?" Tsukune asked her looking worried.

"Yeah I'm fine just a little tired is all," Mizore responded in a tight voice.

He could tell she was lying, "What's really wrong with you, you should know that you can tell me anything, I won't judge you. So what's on your mind?" he asked again.

"Tsukune…" she called out his name, the words were forming on the tip of her tongue, but at the last second she couldn't get them out, "… Thank you, when I'm ready we can talk about this."

Tsukune nodded, "Then what would you say to heading back downstairs and introducing yourself? I'm no big fan of the man, but we don't want him to think we're being rude"

Mizore shook her head, "I'm afraid I'm past my limit of socializing for today. But feel free to leave me here." He eyes closed sadly.

The door shutting caused her to open her eyes and look ahead. She was saddened only for a moment, but then relieved. Tsukune hadn't left; he had stepped in and shut the door behind him. He walked towards the bed sitting down on the edge.

"I said I would spend my vacation with you, so here I am, I could care less about that egomaniacal jerk."

They spent their time talking until Mizore eventually fell asleep with her head on his knee. He quickly began to feel uneasy. He devoured her sleeping form the soft creamy skin and the kimono which clung to her bust and waist, yet the legs and arms were open and loose. An uncomfortable tightness began to develop in his pants as his thoughts began to drift farther from reality. With his last clear thought he decided it best to move Mizore's head from her current position. He gently cradled her in his arms setting her down above the covers, head now resting on a pillow.

Unfortunately having used all his rationality up, he then crawled under the blanket lying next to Mizore. He started off facing her so he could watch her until she fell asleep. But as he felt his will slowly being sucked away by his wicked thoughts, He began to feel a pressure in his nether regions. He decided then it may be for the best to turn away from her. _'Out of sight out of mind'_ He recited to himself, but even facing the opposite direction she was far from out of mind. His perverted thoughts even appeared in his dreams.

He was unsure of when he fell asleep but immediately recognized it was a dream. It was Christmas morning, he ran excitedly down the stairs. Three life sized boxes wrapped in red paper and tied with a green ribbon stood near the fireplace. Tsukune wondered to himself if they were what he thought they were. Before he could move in to take off the paper and ribbon of the one farthest to the left, the top popped open.

"Ho" cried Moka as she burst forth from the box naked. "Ho!" Mizore called out slicing her way out of the second box also naked. And finally Kurumu bounded from the last box, "Ho!"

There was a note in Mizore's hands which she handed to him without hesitation. Tsukune ripped it open too excited to contain himself. It was his mothers' writing.

"I hope we got what you wanted, but you know it was hard to find it around this time of year. Anyway your father and I have left for the hot springs, so make sure to enjoy your present to its fullest extent while we're gone."

In his excitement he tore the letter to pieces before ripping his clothes from his body. The three women closed in on him all locking with him in a nude embrace. It was then that Tsukune heard his mom calling his name; He knew it was reality calling him back from slumber, but he fought his hardest to keep from waking. Eventually he lost the battle and opened his eyes.

His mother stood before him and dangerous look across her face, "What exactly did you do to her Tsukune?!" she asked looking ready to kill him if he answered wrong.

He tried to sit up but there was something on his chest, he looked down and saw Mizore resting her face on his chest. She was breathing lightly and rhythmically, Tsukune assumed she was still asleep, but something a little further down drew his immediate attention. The blanket was elevated seven inches from his loins, and instantly knew why his mother was about to destroy his soul.

He still had to try to explain himself, "No, it was nothing, we were just talking and then she fell asleep and so did I."

"If that's true then why are you thinking perverted thoughts?"

The only thing he could think of in rebuttal was, "Mom I'm a seventeen year old boy watching paint dry makes me think about, those kinds of things."

"Not a good enough excuse!" she yelled waking up Mizore, a ladle was suddenly in her hand, "you should be able to control your base instincts better than that!" She began to beat him with the spoon.

After 10 minutes of punishment the ladle disappeared in much the same way it appeared, Kasumi wiped the sweat away from her head with her now free hand, "There I hope you learned your lesson. Clean yourself up then I want you to apologize to Mizore, Come on Mizore lets head downstairs and eat."

Mizore looked to Tsukune who nodded weakly, She got out of bed and followed Tsukune's mom.

Though his dream had caused him to be beaten mercilessly with a metal ladle it still ranked number one in his all-time favorite dreams, ever! Besides, compared to some of the punishment he had received from some of his fights this was nothing, not a single welt or bruise was left on his skin. He still took his time, changing his clothes, washing his face and hands. He didn't want his mom to think he hadn't cleaned up before dinner. When he stepped into the dining room he was surprised to see that Hayate was still there, he sat across from Mizore divulging in another one of his fanciful tales. Though seemingly dividing his attention between the 3 at almost all times he was watching Mizore. Tendrils of anger poked at Tsukune throughout his body. He had no idea why he had been feeling so protective of Mizore as of late, but he was definitely sure that Hayate had something insidious planned and it involved her somehow.

He sat next to Mizore and something possessed him to grab her hand. Mizore's hand welcomed his as she squeezed it tightly to keep it from shaking. She kept her gaze locked on her left side refusing to look at Tsukune or anyone else around the table, but the other two were too interested in what Hayate was going on about; something about one of his sale pitches, to even notice. Tsukune squeezed her hand back, quietly reassuring her that he was there for her.

Halfway through dinner Hayate's cell phone went off, "Sorry," he apologized pushing his chair out from the table, "I thought it was turned off, but since it rang I may as well see what they want."

He stepped out the door leading from the kitchen to the outside and closed it behind him. He wasn't on the phone very long he appeared to have agreed with the person on the other line a few times before closing his phone.

He stepped back in, "Sorry that was my driver, he was apologizing but he won't be able to make it until 8:00, you don't mind do you Miss Aoko?"

"Not at all," she piped up looking abashed, "And I told, you please call me Kasumi."

Tsukune looked up at the clock only twenty more minutes until he left, he could deal with this. Though the time passed by incredibly slowly 8:00 rolled around and on the minute there was a honk from outside.

Standing up from the chair He began to bid his goodbyes, "Thank you all for your hospitality and generous meal, someday soon we should all do this again, but next time I'll treat everyone to steak." He said before kissing Kyouko's hand.

He then moved on to Tsukune's mom who had her hand out already, for her he kneeled as he kissed it. Finally he turned towards Mizore who was still sitting down. He reached for her hand but it was stopped mid-air. Tsukune had grabbed it before he could touch her and now had Hayate's hand arched painfully over his own shoulder. Tsukune lead him out of the room in that manner pushing him from behind to speed him up.

He opened the door and shoved him out onto the cold pavement. Tsukune grabbed his dress shoes from the floor and threw them at him, " I don't know what you're up to, but I know your hiding something big, and I have a feeling it involves Mizore. She's been nervous and upset ever since she saw you. Even if she won't tell me yet I'm not stupid, I can sense it, so if I ever see you at my house again you won't be leaving so easily."

Hayate stood and laughed, "You just fucked up big-time boy, you have no idea what you just got yourself and your family involved in."

To Hayate's perception Tsukune disappeared, then he felt a presence behind him, "leave now!" Tsukune growled dangerously low, "After the hospitality and grace of this home you dare threaten the people inside!? Be gone and don't let me see you again, ever! You've had your warning, next time your life is forfeit"

"Oh-ho, you're as good as they say, there are tales about you, you know. The human who wandered into the demon world and is slowly conquering it, by becoming a demon himself. But you're power is all borrowed, compared to the vampire who gave you their blood you are but a fly!" Hayate said seeming to have recovered from being stunned.

"So what if my power is only borrowed, it's not power that drives me, it's cause. I don't want to change the world I just want to live a happy, and if that means I need strength to protect those close to me, so be it!"

"Next time we meet I won't be caught off guard; I wouldn't wander away from your home anytime soon. Let's see how great this so called cause of yours is." Hayate informed him then walked past him coolly.

His limousine had been waiting for him in the street, as he exited the yard, a tall elderly driver exited, walking around the front to open the door for Hayate. The driver bowed as Hayate lowered himself into the car. He shut the door behind his passenger then turned on point. In the brief moment That Tsukune's eyes met his Tsukune sensed something terrifying calling out from deep inside him. A chill ran through his body but the driver continued on his path to the driver seat. He carried a lightness in his steps that was uncharacteristic of his age.

Tsukune turned around with a sigh and looked around; apparently their little scene had drawn a crowd of overly nosy neighbors as well as Kyouko and his mother.

He spit out the first thing that popped into his head, "W-we were practicing my role in the school's drama club!" it came out awkwardly but it seemed to appease the crowd.

"I thought as much, it sounded too grandiose to be real."

"Yeah real lame, like it came out of some generic shonen manga."

"I thought the guy in the suit was better, he carried more charisma, seemed more confident in his words."

His mother came up to him, "You're acting was pretty good, you really sounded like you wanted to hurt him, for a second there I was worried things might turn ugly. But when did you join the drama club, I thought you were in the newspaper club."

Tsukune quickly expanded upon his lie with another lie, "Well they wanted me to join really bad, they said I would be perfect for the lead role, and I couldn't say no to them."

"What's the name of the play and when does it premiere? I would like to see it if you're going to be in it, and I'm sure your father will want to see it as well."

"I don't know the answers to either of those questions, now how about a little tea after all the excitement?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"When you find out the answers could you call and tell me, I still have yet to see your school." She pleaded with her son.

"You got it mom!" he replied walking back inside the house _'God she asks so many questions, one of these days she going to end up getting the truth about the academy out of me.' _

Tea was a docile affair with everyone quiet. They all sat around the living room thoughtfully sipping their tea. While she drank Kyouko kept shooting glances at Tsukune as if she wanted to ask something. Kasumi was the first to retire for the night, after asking Tsukune to clean the cups before he went to sleep. He nodded and immediately went to work, gathering the cups and tea pot and carrying them into the kitchen. He turned the hot water on and began rinsing out the dishes.

Someone from behind him spoke, "Tsukki, you didn't join the drama club, did you? And you two weren't acting, this has something to with that school of yours doesn't it?"

Tsukune turned to the doorway, it was Kyouko, she was looking sullenly at the floor, "I'm not sure what this has to do with, all I know is something's not right about him." He answered

"I knew there was something wrong, he had no interest of coming here until I told him about you, he got a strange look in his eye when I mentioned you a few days ago. And suddenly he changed his mind. I was so happy he had decided to meet you and Aunt Kasumi, and then, just then I heard him, that threat. I'm so sorry Tsukune, it's all my fault." She apologized with tears streaming down her face.

Tsukune laughed, "Cheer up it's not your fault, I mean you didn't know he was a creep now did you? Sometimes people hide their true nature until it's too late to do anything about it. And as for the threat, don't worry about it, so long as I'm here he can't do anything about it."

Tsukune stuck his fist up encouragingly, his sleeve which had been covering the locket slid down. it glinted as the light bounced off the sliver chain.

"Wow! What's that Tsukki, it looks expensive." Kyouko asked pointing at his locket.

Tsukune chose his words carefully as to not make it a complete lie, "This was a gift from Moka." Mention her name sent an unpleasant tremor of pain through his heart.

"I thought boys were supposed to buy girls nice things, not the other way around." Kyouko said laughing.

"It was a different kind of gift than that…" Tsukune replied sounding far off. "Anyway please stay here for tonight, I wouldn't want you being accosted on the way home, you could share the guest bed with Mizore."

Remembering Mizore's cold nature he made an addendum to what he had just said, "Actually you can have my bed; I'll sleep on the couch."

"Thanks Tsukki." She said hugging him, "If there's someone I know I can always trust at the end of the day, it's you, I may not like your school, but it's turned you into quite a man." She gave him a peck on the cheek.

"You don't mind me using your Pajamas do you? I don't have anything to sleep in."

"I don't see the point in saying no, that never stopped you when we were kids." Tsukune answered with a playfully.

Kyouko giggled before disappearing out of the room. Tsukune turned to the sink and washed the dishes. Having completed his task he returned to the living room expecting it to be empty. But Mizore remained in the same position she had been when he left. She turned towards him before motioning to the cushion beside her. Tsukune took the offer and sat, there was an uncomfortable silence as neither one spoke. Tsukune looked over at her, the obi had been removed and her kimono now loosely hung from about her shoulders. The top of her kimono had been opened slightly to reveal her cleavage. Tsukune suddenly felt even more uneasy.

"Thank you, I know it must be frustrating but I can't tell you my history with that man, not yet at least. So for now all I can do is thank you for staying by my side." Mizore said leaning in.

Tsukune felt the heat rising in his face he closed his eyes and readied his lips. With a giggle Mizore pushed against him lightly then ran out the door to the backyard. She left the door open, without a thought Tsukune followed her to the deck. She was watching the winter clouds float by in the sky. The waxing moon was half covered by a cloud. Yet the silver silhouette shined through the lining.

The sight was beautiful but it couldn't hold his thoughts, there was something unusually enchanting about Mizore tonight. The way she glistened in the moonlight, seeming to radiate light from all around her. She continued to watch the sky as Tsukune took in her magnificence. Images from earlier flashed back to him, he had seen a side of Mizore he has never seen before, who knew that somewhere deep inside she wasn't so different from other people. Remembering the way she moved in the arcade, so carefree, beating him at everything they played with ease. The way she looked twisted in different positions as her kimono clung to her body. Then the feel of Mizore resting against him, though her body was cold the memory warmed him, it also made his heart race, stomach tighten, and knees go numb.

"It's so beautiful!" Mizore exclaimed a single tear running down her cheek to the sad smile on her lips. ".. so… beautiful"

Tsukune grabbed her shoulders and brought her into his chest, "Please don't keep it in anymore whatever it is that's hurting you, tell me, you don't have to keep it inside anymore. Whatever is eating away at your heart share it with me, let me bear the burden with you."

"Tsukune." She whispered pulling her head away from his chest.

Brown eyes met blue; they stood before each other holding one another. Tsukune began to close the distance between their faces. His heart raced faster as he got closer, his breath quickened and his vision began to blur. A mere hair away from her lips he felt her chilling breath; which left no steam even in the winter air, against his face. His body was numb but he felt a small prick in his neck before the world span out of definition then seemingly instantly spun back into clarity.

AN: WARNING: Next chapter is going to be rated M and it's probably going to be pretty dark. I'm not going to ruin anything for you here, but I will suggest those with weak constitutions not read the next chapter. The chapters' should return to T rating afterwards but I will keep the story at an M for that chapter 9 and any other explicit chapters that may be out in the future. I will always offer a warning at the beginning of the chapter for anything with adult content, telling why it's rated was boosted.


	9. Chapter 9 The Night Has Only Just Begun

Chapter 9: The Night Has Only Just Begun

AN: for this chapter I am bumping the rating up to M, so anyone who isn't old enough probably shouldn't be reading this, of course that isn't going to stop anyone so I'll give you a heads up. This chapter contains explicit depictions of gore, mutilation, disembowelment, rape and sexual mutilation. You have been warned, those who feel uncomfortable reading about such things should turn away now and read something more friendly to their tastes.

Tsukune came to in his bed; it was 7:00 AM; the sun had just started it's journey through the sky. He had a vague Memory of the events of last night; he remembered throwing Kiba Hayate out of his house and then remembered holding Mizore. Then everything went black as if he had suddenly fallen asleep. He quickly jumped out of his bed, his heart threatening to escape through his mouth, Mizore was supposed to sleep in his bed, wasn't he supposed to be on the couch?

The cover was lifted from Tsukune's sudden upheaval; there was no one else in his bed. Registering this he calmed down, he didn't want his mom to find him in another position like last night. He assumed that Mizore had taken the couch in his stead; she was probably going to be sore, those cushions were too soft and offered no support over long periods of time. He changed out of his bed clothes and into a loose-fitting, grey and white striped shirt and his favorite pair of slightly run down khakis. He walked downstairs and into the living room, the couch had no evidence of anyone having slept on it no pillow, blankets or any sort of impression.

Tsukune wasn't surprised, she probably felt uncomfortable leaving a mess and put them away. The smell of Miso Soup brought him to the kitchen where his lively mother was stirring away at a pot of soup. Kyouko was sitting at the table still in her pajamas; only three places were set at the table.

"Mom there's only three places set, what about Mizore?" Tsukune inquired taking his seat.

"Mizore?" she asked blankly, "Do you have someone coming over today?"

Tsukune was confused, "Ahaha, funny joke, she stayed here last night, you remember her, pale skin, real shy, purple hair."

Recognition shined in his mother's eyes, "She's one of those girls that came over during your first year summer break, wasn't she?"

"Yes," he replied his anxiety lifted, "She stayed the night here last night and slept on the couch."

"No I'm afraid she didn't the only person we had over was Kyouko's boyfriend Kiba Hayate."

"No one said he's my boyfriend!" Kyouko yelled from the table her cheeks inflamed.

Kasumi went on unfazed though, "He was such a nice young man, and I was so glad to see Tsukune get along with him so well, you even walked him out to his car. If I remember correctly you tried to convince him to stay the night."

Tsukune became very alert after his mother finished speaking, "Do you remember how I walked him out to his car?" he asked fervently

"Yes," she explained, "You offered him your hand, helped him up from the couch and even got his shoes for him, honestly the way you were fawning over him, you treated him like the big brother you never had."

Somehow his mother's memories had been altered, he had to check Kyouko, "Kyou, do you remember why you stayed the night last night?"

"Eh, I don't remember exactly why I didn't go home last night; I guess I must have gotten too tired to make it home." Kyouko replied slowly, as if unsure herself.

The phone rang cutting of the rest of the conversation. Tsukune froze, but his mother reacted normally and picked up the kitchen receiver, "Hello this is the Aono Household may I ask who's speaking."

"Oh! Of course Hayate, here she is," Kasumi replied quickly, motioning to Kyouko.

Kyouko grabbed the cordless phone from Tsukune's mother's outstretched hand. She went into the other room so Tsukune couldn't hear the conversation. Kyouko didn't return until Kasumi had already placed the servings on the table. She returned to the kitchen giggling with excitement as she explained that they had been invited to "Koji's Beef Palace" an upscale steak restaurant. Their reservation was for 7:30. Naturally his mother was just as excited as Kyouko was, even Tsukune was filled with anticipation, his memory of the day before was fuzzy, he was certain they tried to erase his memory, hopefully he would be able to lure Hayate into a false sense of security, he was going to find Mizore, and he knew Hayate had something to do with the disappearance.

Time passed slowly for Tsukune who spent his day locked up in his room, As much as he would simply like to beat that man into a fine pulp, that would help no one. He was going to have to keep his cool and then follow Hayate after the restaurant.

When the time came to be ready to leave Tsukune had already donned his best suit and with his mother and cousin he stepped out the door. A limo had pulled up just as they shut the door, the car door opened and out stepped Kiba Hayate. He smiled graciously at three as he walked towards them.

Taking Kasumi's hand he placed a gentle kiss on it, "You look absolutely bewitching tonight." He greeted her.

His mom had worn an exquisite black dress made of Chinese silk. The soft material clung to her body but didn't reveal much. The dress came down past her knees with a small slit on her left and right legs. She wore a pearl necklace resting gently around her collarbone and her hair was done up in a fancy bun with strands of hair allowed to dangle freely from it. She completed the ensemble with sleek, black, leather high heels. Kyouko was less extravagant, she had done nothing with her hair, she wore a red leather dress, strapless, it revealed a considerable amount of cleavage and was cut short. Though it was blisteringly cold she wore no jacket to cover herself.

"Ah but the true beauty here is Kyouko." He said as he grabbed Kyouko's hand and pulled her into a kiss; she was surprised but didn't fight it.

He broke it quickly, leading her to the open door by the hand. Tsukune looked at his mom, she apparently was stifling a laugh, but she followed. Tsukune entered the limo last, hesitating with each step. He felt awe as he stuck his head inside, it had a plasma screen TV, mini fridge, blender. It looked like it belonged to some sort of celebrity who spent all their time partying. _'Heh, so he has no morals that he lives by, of course he'd be attracted by that sort of society.'_ The surprise was replaced by resolution; he had to endure for his goal.

Dinner was a lavish affair; Hayate had reserved the entirety of the restaurant for two hours. The food was as exquisite as it was expensive; Tsukune wondered what kind of person these portions would satisfy though.

To his eyes he played the part perfectly, laughed at all the correct times and stared admiringly. It disgusted him, but Hayate made no outward notion of perceiving his deception. When the time came to leave, Tsukune excused himself from the table and headed for the bathroom.

Tsukune pushed open the door and ripped his cell phone from his pocket and called a local taxi service. He ordered a taxi to be waiting at the block next to his own in 20 minutes. He put his phone away right as Hayate entered the door, _'Did he hear that conversation, what would he make of it?' _His heart skipped a beat as Hayate began to speak.

"Make sure to wash your hands Tsukune." Hayate reminded him.

Tsukune couldn't speak so he sufficed to nod in response, before heading to the sink and running the water. He made sure to use soap and dry his hands completely. Hayate followed close behind him.

"I hate to call our time to an end so swiftly but this restaurant needs to return to business." He called out to the two women sitting at the table, "We should do this again sometime soon, but first let's get you all home."

Tsukune followed Hayate closely on the way to the car, his nerves were tingling. He sat closest to the door and didn't speak the entire drive, he tried to make a plan of action but he kept drawing a blank. The only thing he could think of was following them in a taxi. Somehow he would make it work though, he had to, Mizore was waiting for him to save her, somewhere.

Tsukune rushed out the door when the car came to a complete stop. He sprinted to his room locking the door behind him. He threw his window open and jumped. Thanks to his ghoul powers he made it to the tree some twenty feet out. Dexterously he leapt from the tree to the alleyway. His legs tensed when they hit the ground allowing him instant take off. Tsukune saw the taxi driving down the street slowly as if the driver. He hailed it down and it headed to his location.

Tsukune entered, the familiar, sweet smell of cherry cigar tobacco permeated the air, "So where to kid?" The voice sounded like someone he knew.

He looked up a pale man wearing a blue suit, white gloves and a blue driver's hat. Tsukune was pretty sure it was the bus driver and his suspicions were confirmed when the driver turned around.

"I already know what's going on so just tell me where to drive."

Tsukune slammed his door as the Limo was crossing the intersection in front of them; he shut the door before issuing his command, "Follow that limo!"

The bus-driver shadowed the limo extremely closely, there were mere inches between bumpers, "Isn't this a little obvious? They're going to notice" Tsukune complained logically.

"How naïve, you doubt my magic. Well let me tell you this car is completely invisible to human eyes, to anyone watching there is nothing near the limo." The bus-driver responded excitedly.

"But what if someone comes up too close and hits us from the back, someone will notice that." Tsukune pointed out.

Laughing the driver explained, "It's common courtesy, have you never heard of the two-second rule?"

Tsukune felt very worried; relying on people's good will, there were so many ways this plan could backfire. He sighed miserably; it was only the first stage and so many problems already.

The bus driver's composure returned to it's cool state, "Calm your mind, going into this large of a battle with your mind chaotic will result in your death."

Tsukune nodded; for the rest of the ride the only noise came from the light vibrations of the engine. All Tsukune had to do was focus on his goal, nothing else mattered. He would use any means to accomplish his task.

Mizore had awakened hours ago but she couldn't find the strength to rise from the bed. Something heavy was placed on her forehead and whatever it was it completely sapped her power. The only source of light for the large room was what little luminescence not reflected by the think purple curtains. She knew what had happened, Aoshi had found her.

Through the course of the day she slowly resigned herself to her fate, being with Tsukune was a nice fantasy, but that's all it ever was. She tried her hardest to save herself from this life, she thought Tsukune could rescue her, but no one can. She cried pitifully for herself. It was an unfair situation life had put her in, but it was as her mother had explained to her.

"Fight as hard as you can against your destiny until the day it is revealed, then when you can't fight anymore; surrender yourself to the flow of the world."

Mizore tried to forget about Tsukune and her happy memories this was her new place. But every time she banished the thought of Tsukune it was replaced by another memory. She wept uncontrollably for a good portion of the day. Night had long since fallen before anyone entered her room. It was a tall beautiful maid who entered her room and turned on the electric lights. The light seared her pupils as they too rapidly dilated.

"The master had called for you." The dark haired maid announced hollowly.

Dread almost swallowed her as she registered what was happening, but she had submitted to what was about to happen. Mizore allowed the maid to lead her out of the room; not that she could resist had she wanted to. Mizore was lead through the twisting, exquisite halls before stopping outside an ornate, white, double-door. She was sure the handles were real gold; the maid opened it without speaking. Mizore was lead into the room which opened up to be a magnificent bathing facility. There was a peeing boy fountain placed in the center of the room, a Jacuzzi, a large public style bath and 2 artificial waterfalls.

"Due to the sensitivity of the Yuki-Onna we have set this specific room to be your personal bath area, the water is 34 degrees. You are to take a bath before each time the master calls you and afterwards you will be returned to your room, this is your new life Shirayuki Mizore." The maid said in her monotonous manner.

She was lead over to one of the artificial waterfalls where her clothes were removed an article at a time. The maid took care of her bathing for her. Scrubbing every piece of her body gently, the soaps she used smelled of raspberries and left her skin feeling softer than it had been. After her body was cleansed she was taken to the large bath and placed in it.

"You will soak for 20 minutes now, I will get the clothes that master has picked out for you tonight."

Mizore tried desperately to move but only managed in flailing her arms uselessly. Everything was truly setting in as each second passed, she thought she had come to terms with what was about to happen, but that was only her convincing herself of that. _'If I can't be with Tsukune, than there is no one I want to be with.'_ She tried to make herself fall forward, death would be less painful than being defiled, and in her state she wouldn't be able to save herself. But her body refused to listen it stayed standing with knees straight. The entire building shook with a mighty tremor, for a minute Mizore feared for the foundation of the building, yet the stability was regained quickly. She cried at the futility of her situation and continued crying until the maid came in. She was pulled out of the bath and enveloped in a towel.

A flash of emotion graced the maids voice, "Keep crying like that and master won't beat you as much, he likes inflicting pain on his partners, psychological and physical. In fact he can't get erect in normal sex situations, so he likes to go out on the town raping, or he'll sneak into one of his many mistresses' rooms. And do what he wants to them"

Mizore had a feeling this woman knew from personal experience. After the extensive drying process Mizore was placed into a plain, white, cotton Kimono. _'White, the color of death, also the color of surrender.'_ She was allowed to view herself in the mirror. She saw what weighed so heavily on her, it was a sealing sutra, a powerful one too. Weakly, sadly she shook her head, if she was going to survive this she was going to have to learn to distance herself from her body. She tried many times, as step by step they came closer to Aoshi's room. Each time the chain of negative emotions kept her bound to her body.

The door they stopped outside could be considered common-place when compared against the rest of the doors. It was a simple, polished, mahogany door, a brass lion's mouth knocker was fixed near the top of the door. The maid grabbed the ring and knocked against the door.

A voice from inside called out, "Send her in."

In retaliation the maid opened the door; then turned her head away, and shoved Mizore in. the door was slammed shut before Mizore hit the ground. The rapid scampering of footsteps must have meant that the maid was running.

She managed to summon the strength to lift her head and look around, any small shreds of hope that she unconsciously held onto ripped themselves from her heart. It looked like a torture dungeon. Chains and whips of various shapes and size hung from the ceiling and walls. There was a tray of small silver knives and a bed with leather straps. She felt arms under hers which pulled her from the ground forcefully. Someone placed their mouth on her neck which made her shiver disgustedly.

"I have been waiting nine years for you miss Shirayuki. Ever since the first day I saw you I imagined nothing else other than taking away that oh so sweet purity of yours. Can't you feel it, the anticipation I have had waiting for you?" the voice whispered in her ear

There was something hard poking at her back, Mizore knew what it was and wished she could puke, but there was nothing in her system.

The voice picked up in decibels, "Now it's time to get you out of that Kimono, I prefer my women not to be clothed. The sound of a sword being drawn was followed by a sharp sting sensation in various points across her body. The clothes fell to the ground shredded to pieces, her body was also cut blood began to drip from her various wounds.

"Not bad most women cry after that the first time, but rest assured by the time I am through no one else will ever want you again!" The man replied with sudden fervor.

He turned her around to face him, that man, Kiba Aoshi looked the same he had 9 years ago, almost overly tall for his body structure, a plain looking face, and the scar that ran the length of his right cheek. Aoshi moved in and placed his mouth upon hers a sudden cut along her side cause her to open her mouth unconsciously. Aoshi pushed his entirety on Mizore; his free hand began to find her most sensitive places and fondled them ceaselessly and forcefully. Aoshi pushed her down ending the kiss, Mizore could do nothing to avoid twisting her ankle. The pain caused her to cry out but Aoshi merely looked on hungrily as if he were contemplating what deplorable act to do next.

He turned around suddenly and walked to one of the walls where he grabbed a nine tailed whip. He cracked it once menacingly, Mizore jumped, and Aoshi's evil cackling returned. He moved in one step at a time, cracking the whip at her each time. Finally the whip touched her flesh tearing it so easily nine long bloody strips dotted ran across her stomach. Aoshi began to blindly whip, her striking any surface area he could all the while laughing. Mizore finally let the tears rain from her eyes. And Aoshi stopped, dropping the whip.

He leaned forward and grabbed her face turning it towards him. Her eyes were red and puffy, swollen with tears, "That's what I'm after, the true beauty, the one that can only be found through the hopeless suffering! But don't think I'm done, no my dear I'm afraid the night has only just begun!" (ha!) Aoshi explained in a mad frenzy.

He picked her up again and set her on a wooden rack where he went to work tying rope tightly around each hand and foot. He stepped over to a cog that seemed to be connected to this machine. He turned it once, the ropes around her tightened and stretched her body out. Slowly, he turned it again, Mizore's body felt at it's stretching limit. He turned it a third time this time quickly, it now felt like she was about to be pulled apart. Aoshi stepped away from the wheel. She watched him cautiously as he stopped in front of the rack; he watched her for only a second then nodded as if having decided something, next he began taking his clothes off. The scar on his cheek was only the precursor to his body, he had many scars of varying injuries; 4 bullet wounds, stabbed 6 times and innumerable cuts.

The only thing He didn't remove was the leather pistol holder which had been under his shirt. Kiba leaned over the rack and kissed Mizore on the lips. He trailed down her body slowly with kisses, moving from her mouth to her chin, then neck and collarbone. He spent a fair amount of time on her breasts massaging her right while stimulating the left nipple with his tongue.

After a few minutes Aoshi continued his decent down her body. On her stomach she winced as the mouth touched a fresh wound from the whip, he giggled at her pain. He had made it to the pelvis and she was now shaking with fear, she was really about to be raped.

She pleaded desperately, "Please stop, not there, I'm still a virgin! Please don't rape me!"

"Of course you're still a virgin." He replied as he trailed closer to her genitals, "You really think I would have an interest in ruining you if you weren't, now cry out in pain and sadness, and know that Tsukune won't even remember you exist, your place is here until I get tired of you and have you killed."

'_So this is my fate, all the times I barely escaped this situation, I have never been this hopelessly close, I suppose you can only tempt the chances so many time.'_ Mizore shrieked as she felt his tongue enter her body, She tried to convulse and shake it out, but the exploring tongue continued delving deeper until it hit a wall. Mizore sighed in relief when he removed his tongue and lifted himself from her loins. He stepped over to the wheel and cranked it forward harshly. Mizore was no longer resting on the wooden rack she was elevated by the tightness of the ropes. Her arms and hips felt like they were about to pop out of socket.

"It's now time for the main course, I want to see your pain, let me revel in your tragedy! Allow me to drink in your suffering!" It somehow seemed that this man was the least human creature she had ever met, even the worst of demons didn't compare to him.

He moved in slowly, savoring the moment, he was fully erect and his entire body shook with anticipation. She cried harder than she ever had, he was about to enter her, and she would be forever ruined. The only thing she could think of was Tsukune, it filled the entirety of her being.

She could feel the heat emanating from his penis and it closeness to her, not knowing what else to do she screamed, "TSUKUNE!!!"

Aoshi stopped his advance momentarily to deliver an open handed slap to her face, "You stupid bitch! He won't ever come for you, to him you never even existed, from this day forth you're all mine!"

She felt his body tense up as he was preparing to lunge deep inside her. A loud explosion from the doorway caused the door to fly off it's hinges and into the wall, shattering on impact. A lone man stood staring on in disbelief. A dangerous red aura surrounded his body chilling the room.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MIZORE!" HE GROWLED, HIS FIST SHAKING ANGRILY.

Aoshi pulled his gun from it's holster and fired 4 shots in quick succession; one in the naval, head and either lung. Tsukune fell face first onto the floor immediately, a pool of blood quickly formed under him.

"Moron, it doesn't matter how powerful the demon is, a gun will kill it all the same." He said lightly, "Now where were we, my beautiful doll?"

He turned back to Mizore, all emotion had left her eyes, she had finally separated herself from her body. Single-handedly that man had crushed her will to live, she was merely a hollow existence without Tsukune, she would continue to exist but only to serve this man's disgusting sexual appetite.

AN: Well that was the end of the story, what did you guys think? I would like to thank everyone who followed this story for the entirety of it's course, also all those people who took the time to review my work. And the people who favorited the story. I really enjoyed writing this fic, and I hope that you all enjoyed reading it. And don't bother reading below this point because there is absolutely nothing down there but blank space and the incoherent ramblings of a sleep deprived man. So go ahead and exit out the story's over goodbye.

If you're still reading that means you obviously don't follow directions very well. Do you think you're some sort of rebel or something?

Well I like people who rebel against what some bland faceless person orders them to do. So here's your reward.

The drive to the mansion took a surprising one and a half hours; apparently he lived in the next town over. The mansion itself was exquisite; larger than any 5 houses he had ever seen, with nearly a mile of yard enclosed by an ornate black iron gate. Trees grew thickly all around them covering the sides of the road. There were four guards outside the gate as well as a number of people strewn throughout the yard; everyone was dressed the same way black suit, pants and tie, and a white dress shirt. One of the guards stepped up to the limo, the window rolled down and the guard immediately signaled for them to open it. The limo crept up the driveway slowly and into the enclosed area. The bus-driver made no move to follow.

"Sorry kid, this is as far as I can take you, I'm not allowed to get involved in human affairs. But I will be waiting here for your return." Tsukune nodded, this was a human affair, he could understand the sentiments of the driver.

"Thanks for the lift, it shouldn't take me more than an hour to get Mizore and get back." This time it was the driver's turn to nod in response.

Tsukune opened the door and shut it gently; the guards weren't looking in his direction so he had the element of surprise on his side. The man who had approached the limo walked off away from the group mentioning he was using the restroom. Tsukune shadowed him from a distance waiting for a time to strike. The sound of a zipper was followed by the noise of a rushing liquid. Tsukune stepped behind the guard, concentrating his demonic energy into his right hand he punched through the guard's chest. He swiftly pulled his hand out and let the man fall to the ground.

Tsukune hid himself behind a tree and waited, surely they would send someone to check on him after he didn't return. Tsukune waited for 5 minutes, and just as he was about to give up he heard someone approaching,

"Hida hurry up with it, the boss is going to kill you if he sees you slacking off." Someone spoke from out of Tsukune's view.

The person got closer; he could now hear the heavy footsteps against the soil, "What's wrong did it get stuck in the zipper or something?"

The man passed by Tsukune's tree, without alerting him of his presence Tsukune grabbed the top of the guards head, and with a sickening crack his head was forced to turn 180 degrees. Tsukune let him fall unceremoniously to the ground. He hid the bodies in the wooded area and repeated this process until all 4 guards had been killed. Slowly Tsukune made his way back to the gate. A fresh set of 4 guards were standing in front of it, far more alert than the previous had been.

"Keep your eyes open we have an intruder, we can only assume that Team Delta was taken out, don't let anything pass by your attention.

'_Of course they'd call reinforcements they can't leave the area unguarded.'_ With his previous plan's failure he only saw one option, his original plan. Kill everyone who stood in his way and then find Mizore. Tsukune jumped out from his hiding place and charged the obstacle's standing in the way. He struck 2 guards in the chest and sent them barreling through gate ripping it off it's hinges. Luckily the right door to the gate managed to pierce through one of the closer guard's chests. Tsukune grabbed one of the survivors and threw him at a guard who was pulling out his gun. They connected and both dropped no longer moving. The last guard had an important task to play, he was the bullet shield.

Securing his grasp around the guard's shirt Tsukune lifted him and charged. He weaved throughout the crowd of guards ripping throats out breaking necks, disemboweling, whatever killing technique was convenient for the situation. With all 80 guards dead he dropped the hole-filled man in his hands. Everyone else in the yard had been killed.

He doubted his chance of making it through the front door alive; the only reason he survived was thanks to the element of surprise, but he was sure the men inside would be waiting for him. So he opted to make his own doorway. He walked up to the mansion stopping outside a fanciful window. He punched the wall below the window. The wall crumbled easily enough but the house continued to shake long after the dust cleared from his construction attempt. Slowly the building steadied itself and Tsukune walked through his makeshift door.

Tsukune stepped into a sensibly decorated bedroom, a fine wooden armoire rest against the wall opposite the queen sized bed, with a replication of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" hung from the wall at the head of the bed. A desk and chair had been apparently been against the wall he hit, as twisted bits of metal and large wooden splinters littered the floor. Cautiously he approached the white plain wooden door and opened it, as expected there were three guards waiting outside for him. Yet even with their guns out of the holsters they weren't ready for the full fledged murderer that attacked. Tsukune tore out the guards' jugulars in one fluid movement, each one fell to the ground grasping at their throat as a blood river began to pump from the wounds. Tsukune had no idea where to even go so he wandered through the halls playing exterminator. He lost track of the fallen as the count continued to rise. But he began to play a game, seeing how much he could decorate the walls while still efficiently killing the flies in his way.

In his wandering he came across a white door decorated with gold trimming, it rest slightly ajar. All the furniture in this room looked far more expensive, with many more objects of art than the room he had entered from. Sitting in a recliner placed in the middle of the room was Hayate with his face buried in a "Nikkei Business" magazine. Though his face was covered; Tsukune knew immediately it was him. And If anyone knew where Mizore would be, it would be her captor. He gripped the door knob tightly and slowly opened it.

By the time the door was open enough to permit Tsukune entrance Hayate put his magazine down and locked eyes with the intruder, "You really are stupid aren't you, this was an obvious trap."

With his sentence finished three guards sprang from his closet, two popped out from behind his bed, and two crashed in through the windows, all of them had their guns pointed at him. But the basic flaw was they didn't cover all angles, for the most part they all had the same line of sight on him. Still gripping the door he ripped it off it's base and placed it in between himself and the people aiming at him. Tsukune rushed the larger group first, everyone opened fire but their nine M9's lacked the stopping power to penetrate the door, as they shattered against the hard surface severely reducing their strength. He turned the door sideways and cleaved at their jaws. Their heads snapped to the side loudly quickly while the bottoms of their mouths were ripped from their face crashing against the wall.

With his swing completed he brought the door to his back to protect from the hail of enemy fire. He systematically eliminated the guards who had come in through the windows; as they were the next closest. He knocked one into the other using the flat of the door. Together they flew into the wall, denting it. A satisfactory crunch followed by their expulsion of blood and bone from the mouth showed of their impending doom. The final two reloaded their weapons as Tsukune sprinted towards them. They unloaded their guns in rapid succession. With only a few feet till his destination the door cracked, the bottom half fell off. Tsukune jumped into a flying tackle to protect his lower body, still holding onto the top half he brought the 2 guards to the ground. The pressure from the door on their necks severed their spinal cords and heads from their body.

Tsukune leapt to his feet turning to face Hayate mid-air, Tsukune saw no fear only amusement, Hayate spoke calmly, "I see why you were able to resist the siren song "Obliteration", the vampire who gave you their blood must be a superior specimen even among their kind. These pathetic humans don't stand a chance against you, you've killed wave after wave of my men without even taking a scratch. Color me impressed."

"Where is Mizore?" Tsukune asked cooly.

"Eh the snow maiden, well she's probably enjoying my brother's company, don't worry by the time he's done with her you won't want her anymore."

Tsukune's feet leapt into action, flying forward he threw a punch aiming to take Hayate's life. His hand struck a hard barrier, a sudden force struck him in the face but Tsukune stood his ground, "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Tsukune screamed passionately.

"If not for the song "Counter" I would be dead, that punch had enough force to knock over a tank, the fact that you can still stand after you're attack was turned on you is impressive. Tell me who gave you their blood."

"Not that it matters but it was Akashiya Moka who sired me." Tsukune responded hitting at the barrier again.

The same force struck him in the gut, his stomach convulsed as if it was trying to empty itself, "Aka-Akashiya? As in the third daughter of the legendary ultra s-class vampire?" Hayate's calm had disappeared, replaced by fear.

"That doesn't matter!" Tsukune screamed leaping into a punch, "you're going to tell me where Mizore is and then I'll make your death swift and mostly painless." Hayate leaned his chair backwards he let it fall so he could roll backwards, dodging the flying punch.

"Zarathustra!" Hayate called out desperately.

The sharp sound of a harp's note cut through the air and suddenly a beautiful, winged, blonde woman appeared by Hayate's side, "Yes my lover!" she cooed softly.

"We're leaving; my brother has gotten mixed up in something bigger than himself." He said sharply.

"Like fuck I'm going to let you leave!" Tsukune roared standing and readying another attack.

"Wait!" he called out holding his hand out, "I didn't know that you belonged to that vampire family, I was just following orders, my brother ordered me to kidnap your girlfriend. But to make things even, I'll tell you where my brother's dungeon is, so please don't tell your masters about this."

"Why should I trust you, it's a little odd you wanting to offer help to someone trying to kill everyone in this mansion." Tsukune said cautiously

"Like I said my brother went in over his head, you can do what you want with him, but I'd like to stay alive. I've heard of what that vampire has done to people who cause problems for his daughters. Besides this shield could only take one or two more of your hits anyway. My brother has your woman in a room seven doors down, on the other side. It's brown and is the only one with a ring on it, you can't miss it. Oh, one last thing, if you ever want her to able to recover from this, hurry!"

Tsukune nodded and sprinted out of the room. He had to rip through 20 more people after leaving the room, but they didn't hold him for long. The door was exactly where Hayate had described, Tsukune was about to push open the door when he heard Mizore shriek out his name pleadingly. He felt himself disconnect from his body, and he kicked the door in, it shattered upon impact then collided against the far wall breaking into even smaller pieces.

Tsukune felt his psyche slipping further away, Mizore was covered in welts and lashes, bleeding profusely from several cuts, tears mixed with blood and stained her beautiful face. Blood dripped slowly from her fresher wounds, as a naked, scar covered man stood before her, imposing himself upon her. Tsukune then decided that this person was going to die a slow and painful death.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MIZORE!" he growled his fist shaking uncontrollably from fury

Thoughtlessly the person aimed his gun at him and shot him four times. Everything around him slowed down, the blackness that surrounded him closed in slowly. Even his falling seemed slow, as if he were sinking in molasses. The last thought before he faded away was of Mizore, _'Sorry, even with my best, I failed you.'_

Everything was peaceful and calm for but a moment before a deep commanding voice called out to him, "What are you doing? Get your ass up boy that woman is depending on you, if you don't save her now, no one will ever be able to save her ever. Use your true power."

'_He's right, I can't fail, Mizore's completely depending on me.'_ He returned to his body his pain was gone but his limbs refused to respond at the moment.

The room pulsed once slowly, Aoshi again stopped himself and turned to face Tsukune, who still lay motionless on the floor. Aoshi turned back to face his prey in front of him but no sooner than he had, the room pulsed again, more fiercely. Aoshi concentrated on Mizore but the room pulsed again so violently that he lost his footing. Everything began to beat in a slow rhythm; though the vibrations were less fierce, they were constant, like a heart. Aoshi stood himself back up but had to fight to keep balance.

Slowly Tsukune began to move, at first only his chest was moving up and down; slowly as if he were breathing. Then his arms crept out from underneath him. Kiba shot three more rounds; two missed the other pierced through Tsukune's right hand. Tsukune continued; unperturbed by the new wound, pushing himself up to his knees.

"Why aren't you dead yet?!" Aoshi yelled clearly panicking.

He unloaded the last six bullets in his clip all of them found their mark, he continued pulling the trigger long after he was out of bullets, producing a dry click noise every time he squeezed it. The bullets seemed to have no effect on Tsukune; his previous wounds had even stopped bleeding. Upon his rising to his feet a powerful gale blasted through the room. Tsukune roared, an inhuman ferocious snarl that reverberated off the walls deafening everyone, the scream and gale continued simultaneously until it seemed the blast was produced from his lungs.

Tsukune jumped and pounced on Aoshi tearing his left cheek to the bone with a scratch. Aoshi's back hit the floor hard; knocking his breath out. Tsukune was crouched atop his chest preventing him from standing again. Tsukune's red eyes met the brown eyes of Aoshi, a devilish smile played across his face while he cackled insanely. Tsukune sucked the blood and flesh from the fingers on his left hand. The bullets slowly pushed themselves out of his skin, Tsukune began to cackle much the same way Aoshi had earlier.

Without warning Tsukune stopped laughing and began to furiously beat Aoshi with his fists, wild blows being landing in whatever area was exposed. Even after Aoshi had slipped away into unconsciousness Tsukune continued to beat him.

"Stop! Please stop, he's going to die!" Mizore cried out, looking at the fallen man he was now an unrecognizable, swollen purple mass oozing blood.

Her words fell on ears plugged with fury and bloodlust, "If you take his life how are you any better than him?!" Tsukune stopped mid punch his eyes began to waver between red and brown before returning to their natural state.

Tsukune stood and moved from atop the barely living man, the way he calmly walked over to her even after regaining his senses disturbed Mizore. Had that really been the demon inside him, or was that actually Tsukune. Slowly and calmly Tsukune loosened the wheel, to which Mizore's muscles and joints screamed with relief. Next the bonds were undone and again blood could circulate freely in her hand and feet. Finally the sutra was removed, after bearing with that torment even these slight reliefs felt like paradise.

Tsukune took off his tattered jacket and dress shirt and dressed Mizore with them. Though it was only a shirt it managed to completely cover her, extending down to her mid thigh. Tsukune pulled a small crystal vial from his pants pocket afterwards, the liquid inside was a clear yellow-green.

"Drink it, the bus-driver gave it to me, he said it will help you heal." He said emotionally as he removed the stopper and placed it to her lips.

He lifted the bottom up slowly, making sure the liquid made it in her mouth. It tasted sweet but suddenly made her terribly nauseous. She closed her eyes to keep the world from spinning but quickly fell into the dream world.

"May you find rest in that sleeping potion Mizore, someone as pure as you should never have to witness the carnage of a battlefield. As you bore your pain alone please allow me to bear this, it's the least I can do for allowing that freak to have his ways with you." Tsukune spoke softly as he lifted her unconscious body.

He carried her into the hall, 20 men had died out here, and their bodies were piled messily atop one another. A pool of blood and the stench of death gathered around the pile, many of them had lost the majority of their internal organs, which now lay scattered across the hall and hanging from the many chandeliers, blood and other various bodily fluids still dripped from above. The walls and paintings had been revamped, stained with the crimson paint that he stole from his victims. Truly this was as hell was, but a no more fitting place for such people to go. Tsukune was delighted by the fact that even if hell didn't exist, he allowed them to experience it in their last moments.

He marched through the carnage whispering a jaunty tune, stepping over and around the dead. Tsukune exited through the hole he had created in one of the guest bedrooms, he left the door open to easily identify the room. Even more death was outside, 80 men spread throughout the large yard, not a single one was moving. Tsukune continued his song walking through the bloody terrain; the taxi was waiting outside the gates which had been torn from the hinges. Tsukune opened the right passenger door and lowered himself inside.

"Looks like it was a success, I suggest we get out of here before anyone else comes." The bus driver said slowly as Tsukune closed his door.

Tsukune nodded still holding on to Mizore tightly, her head had shifted onto his shoulder and she had turned onto her side. Her breathing was ragged and irregular despite being asleep; Tsukune pushed the hair from face gently. Several lashes and cuts were aligned throughout her body, but she was safe in his arms now. He began gently running his hands through her soft, blood-matted hair. He had no way to reverse what had happened, all he could do was promise to never let this happen again.

Still he would understand if she hated him now, who knew the number of times and ways she was violated. The memory of what he had seen when he entered that dungeon, burned away at the back of his eyes, filling him with disgust and hatred. He shouldn't have stopped, he should have killed that man, so what if it couldn't reverse what he had done, it would have prevented him from ever attempting the same thing again.

"I'm sorry Mizore," he whispered just above her face, "I was too late to save you, please don't hate me."

Mizore stirred in her sleep and called out his name desperately, he grabbed her hand and soothed her as he spoke, "I'm here, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

She calmed and fell back into her peaceful sleep; Tsukune wished he could join her in her dreams, but his place was in the conscious world, protecting her.

AN: Yeah, I wasn't going to end it there, maybe some other story but not this one. I made this chapter extra big because I didn't want to break this up into two different chapters as I have been prone to do in the past. Expect the next chapter soon. Also I realized in this chapter that I have been writing Tsukune's last names as Aoko, when it is in fact Aono. I have no idea why I have been doing this when I knew what his name was, I guess something in my brain was just cross wired, anyway from this chapter on I shall be using his real name.


	10. Chapter 10: Lounging

**Chapter 10 Lounging:**

**AN:** Yeah so its been a while since I last updated and I apologize for that, they took me off workman's comp because there are some jobs they think you can do one handed. So long story short I've been exhausted and lazy so I haven't been writing but for 5 minutes here and there which is why I decided this weekend I am not leaving until I finish this chapter, in the end it took until Monday because of my procrastination, so enjoy.

I haven't done this in a while so in case your forgot I do not own any rights to Rosario vampire neither characters nor settings.

Tsukune observed his house from the street in front of it. All the lights were off, so smuggling her inside shouldn't be too hard. Tsukune pushed the car door open slowly; using only his legs, he lifted himself and the delicate package resting in his arms from the vehicle. The passenger side front window rolled itself down and the driver stuck his head towards the window and called out to them.

"She should be waking up anytime now, most of her wounds will be healed. You should probably wash the blood from her body at that time."

"Thank you for all your help," Tsukune responded as he fumbled with his hand inside his pocket trying to grab the wallet.

The driver shook his head then the window rolled itself back up. The taxi drove away, Tsukune stayed and watched until it turned out of sight. He shifted his grip on Mizore then walked up the pathway to his door. He pulled his home key from his pocket with his right hand and inserted it into the keyhole. A twist and a click sounded as it unlocked. Through the darkness he could make out no humanoid shapes so he crept up the stairs, cursing each time one creaked.

"Tsukune?" Mizore called out desperately, "Is that really you?" she weakly grasped at his shoulders.

"It's me Mizore, don't worry, we're home now," he replied softly, his voice strained.

Her grip tightened slightly, "Please, promise me, that you'll never let me go. Promise me that we will stay like this forever, let the entire world cease to be and just let me lay in your arms." He could hear light sobs in between her words, and feel them as they shook her body.

"I can only promise to hold you like this until morning; during this time may we forget our troubles and miseries, as we must face them when we rise."

He slid open the door to the bathroom, he turned on the light. He went about gathering soap, conditioner, and shampoo, as well as a rag and placed them on the floor at Mizore's feet. She watched him as he went about collecting things, after he dropped the hygiene products he turned and headed for the door.

A sudden overwhelming fear of loss came over her, he was going to leave her, and then she'd be taken away, "Wait!" she screamed her entire body shivering, "Please don't go! Didn't you promise to hold me until morning?"

Tsukune turned to face the small cowering woman, "But you need to take a bath…" he started embarrassedly but stopped after looking into her eyes, "Okay." He shut the door behind and went back by Mizore's side.

She clumsily fumbled on the shirt buttons as she tried to undo them, her hands were too unsteady. Seeing so, Tsukune reached in and slowly opened the shirt. His body felt strangely numb as he undressed the snow maiden. Nearing the top buttons he turned his head so as to not see her exposed cleavage. He could feel the blood rising to both his cheeks and his pants. He bit his tongue hard, he had been getting aroused. After all that happened to her, and still in this situation, he had such thoughts, he felt disgusted with himself. He snuck a quick peek at her face, she stared forward emotionlessly, the look pained Tsukune more than anything he had ever seen. Would she ever be the same after that? It was his fault she had been raped, if he had been quicker, if he hadn't waited until nightfall, perhaps none of this would have ever happened.

With the shirt completely undone Tsukune peeled the shirt slowly away from her body. It had stuck itself painfully to the wounds which were still wet. Mizore winced with every inch the shirt moved, until finally it was removed from her body completely. Tsukune leaned over to the bathtub and ran a cool bath then delicately wetted her skin with a bucket of cold water; he filled the bucket up again and moistened the rag in it. He washed her back and arms for her but worried about washing her front. He sighed _'I supposed its better than risking her reopening any of her wounds.' _

He stepped around her to her front, these wounds were considerably worse than her back, among the worst was a six-inch knife cut running from her navel to her pelvis. Tsukune could felt the burning tears of anger burst through his eyes, though her skin was tarnished her beauty was far from gone, Tsukune wrapped his arms around her softly and brought her to his chest. Her emotions came flooding back in a surge of tears and agony.

"I'm sorry Tsukune, he, he ruined me, no man is going to want me after the atrocities I was just put through. Please let me leave, the two of us cannot be, my only option is to return to Aoshi. He's the only one who will want me."

Tsukune cried tears of anger and self-loathing, but he held onto Mizore steadfastly, nullifying her attempts to push him away. After they had both stopped crying Tsukune set her back upright, and continued about washing her, after her entire body had been gently scrubbed Tsukune poured the second bucket of water over her. The water turned pink as it washed away the dried blood and soap, the water quickly found it's way to the drain, and spiraled down never to be seen again. By this time the bath had filled nearly to the brim, Tsukune shut it off then took Mizore's hand in his, he helped her from the stool and into the bath.

"You should soak in there for a little while; it should help with the pain." With that said he turned around and sat on the stool, facing the doorway.

For a long time it was quiet, Tsukune wanted to ask her to talk about what had happened, but he was certain that was a subject you didn't bring up, ever. After playing many simulations out in his head, he decided to wait until she was ready to talk about it. If she ever wanted to talk about it.

Mizore broke the silence, "Um, Tsukune…." She trailed off

"Are you ready to get out?" he asked not turning to face her.

She replied weakly, "Yes."

Tsukune produced a towel from the bathroom closet, which he slung over his shoulder. He then grabbed under her arms before looking away and dead-lifting her from the water. Mizore was set beside the bathtub then handed the towel, Tsukune was still looking away embarrassedly.

A sad realization dawned upon Mizore, "Why do you keep looking away? Is it, because of what happened to me, are you that disgusted, I wouldn't have let him if I could have done anything about it, but that sutra had me completely paralyzed. But if you can even look at me anymore then there is further need for me to be here. Thank you for everything I'll be fine now."

Mizore tried to take a step forward but her knee gave out as soon as her foot contacted the floor. She accelerated to the ground but a strong pair of comforting arms caught her, wrapping around her bare chest. She was placed back on her feet directly in front of Tsukune, her back and head rested against Tsukune's chest.

"No, it's not that," he struggled to get out, "its that every lash, every cut, every bruise on your body it pains me as if I were the one who had been tortured. In fact I wish that had been me, but I couldn't protect you." He replied stoically," What good is it to hold this power if I can't even protect what's most important to me?"

His tears rolled down his face slowly but he continued, "If you can ever forgive me, please allow me the honor of protecting you again. For you, the woman I love," He turned her to face him suddenly, then placed a small peck upon her lips then pulled back, "that is an oath, I will do anything to protect you next time, even if I have to sacrifice myself to do so."

"Did you just say that you loved me?" she asked finding a small reserve of strength in his words.

He nodded staring dead in her eyes, "I'm not afraid to admit it anymore, to be honest I was unsure about my feelings until 2 days ago. At the arcade I realized that somehow, somewhere along the line, I didn't see you as just a friend anymore. You are the woman who I will devote the entirety of my life to serve and protect. These past 5 days have been filled with woe and misfortune, but if I could go back to the beginning of the week, the only thing I would change is your kidnapping."

His tears had stopped and he know spoke with a burning passion, "I may have lost Moka on that day, but it was for the better. I found someone who shared my feelings all along and she moved into the position that Moka once held, yet somehow she occupied and even larger space in my heart, Moka, Yukari, Kurumu, Ruby, they are all dear friends and still are important to me. But now I have something even more important. Do you know who that person is?"

Mizore shook her head knowing the answer but not wanting to build up her hopes, "It was you." He replied, "You came in, in my darkest hours, and you held me, you took my pain in, and made it to where I no longer have to suffer alone. You saved me from that darkness Mizore, and for that you forever have my gratitude and my love. Someday we will pass this, but until that day I will be by your side. Patiently, I will wait for you and protect you."

A flood of information and feelings overwhelmed Mizore; she fell forward into Tsukune's chest she was not asleep yet she was fighting with all her might to remain conscious. She felt herself walking somewhere but didn't bother to see where. She was placed on a soft cool surface; something even softer was under her face. She was certain she was in a bed, but she felt terribly alone and vulnerable.

She called out Tsukune's name, a voice responded in her ear, "I'm right here," as his arm wrapped around her and pulled her tightly against him, "I'll always be right here."

Mizore no longer needed to fight the sensation of sleep and let it consume her. Her sleep came in fits, it seemed every time she closed her eyes, the visions of the night haunted her, ripping her from her rest. Tsukune didn't sleep well either that night. His imagination floated to what that person had done to Mizore while he wasn't there. Disgusting and horrible images came to his head, none of which he would put past that man who was more beast than human.

With the lack of steady sleep; morning came slowly for the naked woman and half naked man who were tightly locked together. The digital clock turned over to 7:15 Am but before the alarm could sound Tsukune shut it off. He snuggled his face into Mizore's back; who was currently asleep.

Tsukune heard his mother moving about downstairs, she was getting breakfast ready, He hoped she wouldn't come up to his room, he didn't want to explain why a scarred up naked woman was sleeping in his bed. Suddenly something popped in his head, He examined her back carefully, the deep gouges which had been there only last night were now gone, not even leaving scars as proof of ever having been there. He checked the rest of her back and there didn't seem to be any scarification. He felt relieved, but the sound of footsteps on the stairwell put Tsukune on alert, his mom was coming up the stairs.

The steps stopped at the top of the stairs, "Tsukune are you awake dear?" His mother asked from the hallway

"Y-yeah mom!" was all he could say in response

"Good, wash up then wake up Mizore by the time you get down here breakfast should be done." And with that the footsteps descended the stairs.

He looked over at Mizore; she lay peacefully on the bed covered by only a thin blanket. She seemed to be in a less fitful dream than she had had all night. He didn't want to bother her so he let her sleep. In the bathroom He washed his face and hands, then brushed his teeth and slipped on a plain white T-shirt. He stepped out of the bathroom then walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. The sounds and smells of frying pork greeted him from the doorway

"Mizore doesn't feel well today, I'll take her breakfast up to her after I'm done." Tsukune announced before sitting at the table, to which his mom nodded happily in response to.

His mother placed a plate in front of him, sausage cut into rings served with eggs. Tsukune found it hard to eat, not that the taste or texture was unappealing, his stomach was still upset as he remembered the night before. He moved from the meat to the egg in hopes that it would go down easier, but right as he got a piece to his mouth He heard Mizore frantically scream his name. The egg dropped to floor and before it made contact, Tsukune was already flying up the steps. He slammed open his bedroom door. Mizore was crying into her pillow.

Tsukune sat down next to her on the bed rubbing her back gently, "What's wrong Mizore?."

"I'm so sorry I didn't recognize where I was, I woke up in here, and… I thought I was still back in that mansion, I thought I had dreamed Tsukune coming to rescue me."

"Don't worry, all that's over now, and I'm right here. No one else is going to take you away from me." He assured her calmingly.

She grabbed at his shirt and buried herself in his open embrace sobbing into the cloth, Tsukune merely rubbed her back in small gentle circles while whispering words of encouragement. She was unaware how long she had cried but when she removed her face from his shirt two streaks of moisture were visible, running down the shirt.

"Would you like some breakfast?" Tsukune asked tentatively

Mizore shook her head sullenly then slowly spoke up, "Um, Tsukune," She seemed to have trouble finding the words to express herself, "Did you really mean it? What you said last night?"

Tsukune was caught off guard by the question but kept his composure and only hesitated for a moment before responding, "Of course I did, I'm not the kind of person who would say something so casually."

"But how could you love me, we can't ever get married. I'm a terrible person, all the underhanded things I have done, maybe I deserve this. It's the retribution assigned to me by my fate, to make up for all my evil intentions."

"What the hell are you talking about?" it was Mizore's turn to be taken back, "I don't care about any of that and I don't believe that some great force decides our fate. I think we as individuals hold the supreme cosmic power to decide our fate, so if you resign yourself to what's happening, then it will be your destiny. But, I don't surrender, I will fight tooth and nail against this, and some day I will overcome, because I decided what I want my fate to be. Would you like to know how I decided I am going to spend my life?"

She nodded completely absorbed in his speech, "Well first thing is after I finish high school I'm going to marry you, then I'll go to college I'll get a good job, then we're going to have many children together. Finally our kids will grow up and we'll enter our golden years together, our children will have children and we'll spoil the young grandkids. Then we'll pass away together, holding hands. From there we will meet up in heaven, where we can spend the entirety of forever in each other's arms. That's the future I see, I don't care what that guy's brother did to you, he could never ruin your purity and beauty; which is as untainted as freshly fallen snow."

Mizore felt her skin begin to tingle as she listened the words that he was saying, a raw almost unrecognizable emotion began to rush through her, this was exactly the reason she had fallen in love with him two years ago, his innate sense of justice combined with his unique perspective on life. Perhaps she would try it; she would try to move on from her past. As of right now it was too soon, the pain was still too fresh, but with Tsukune's help she was certain she would be able to move past it.

"So this may be a stupid question," Tsukune piped up, "But is there anything in particular you wanted to do today, because I wanted to do some shopping but don't want to leave you behind."

"You don't have to worry about me; I don't want to keep you with me if you don't want to be. Feel free to spend your day how you want it, but for today I think I'll just stay here."

Tsukune stood up resolutely, "Then it's decided!" he spoke out Mizore couldn't help but feel disappointed, especially after that long speech of his, "I'm going to go get some movies from downstairs, anything in particular you want to watch?"

The pain instantly removed, Mizore replied, "It doesn't really matter to me, whatever you feel like watching will be fine."

Tsukune cocked his head to the left thinking, it was hard to please people when they were so indifferent, "I'll be back then."

He ended up picking up romance flicks, he made sure to stay away from the drama and comedy variety. He ascended the stairs with two large handfuls of movies, his mom was obsessed with these kinds of movies, and thus they had an abundance of them. By the time Tsukune had reentered his room Mizore had dressed herself in one of Tsukune's Pajama shirts. It was long and white, very plain but it sufficiently covered Mizore.

And so the young couple spent their day together watching cheesy romance movies. He wasn't keen on the idea of romance flicks, but a day spent with alone with Mizore was certainly not a waste of time.

Something had been bothering him though, His mom and cousin had forgotten about Mizore yesterday, yet it seemed their memory returned and still they acted as If nothing had happened, what had Hayate done to alter their memories so easily. Did they remember yesterday and how she went missing, or were their memories changed to include Mizore at the steakhouse? He supposed it didn't matter and it was best not to ask, if they suddenly remembered something it may cause some problems.

Mizore's stomach suddenly made a noise bringing his attention to her. Her cheeks were flushed and she tried to look at the bed to avoid making eye contact. Tsukune couldn't help but smile, her embarrassment was adorable.

He put his arm on her shoulder, she shivered violently and looked up at Tsukune fear splattered across her facial expression, "I'm sorry…" she trailed off and looked away again.

Tsukune removed his hand, "It's okay, really don't worry about it, anyway dinner should be about done anytime now, would you like to go down to the table with me?"

Mizore contemplated it for a substantial amount of time; her deep thought caused Tsukune to speak again, "You don't have to come down if you don't want to. I can bring some food up here."

Mizore answered, "There's no need to do that, I think I could join you guys for dinner." Tsukune smiled encouragingly.

Though she had said that Mizore was hesitant to leave the room when called for supper, Tsukune calmly waited for her at the doorway. When she finally decided to move she put on the bottom to the pajamas then grabbed Tsukune's hand and followed him to the kitchen. A pot of thick beef stew simmered happily on the stove top. Tsukune chose to set the table on this occasion, placing three soup bowls around the table as well as appropriate silverware. By the time he was finished setting up the utensils his mother had brought the pot over to the table. Setting It atop a heating plate she began to serve out the portions.

Dinner was a quiet affair, yet it was not an uncomfortable kind of quiet. More like an understanding lack of conversation, Tsukune and Mizore held hands under the table, Mizore appeared to be the picture of calm and collected, but her hand was tightly squeezing his, and had begun to perspire. On one occasion Tsukune's eyes met his mother's, she flashed a knowing smile before returning her attention to her soup. In the end Mizore only ate half of her serving yet assured everyone she had more than her fill.

After Tsukune took care of the dishes from dinner, him and Mizore retreated to his room. There was only one DVD left to watch. Tsukune placed it in the player after removing the previous title. He set himself on his bed making sure to not obscure Mizore's view; who lay stretched out across his bed.

The movie, "A Summer's Romance: Star-Crossed Lover's" was the final movie they watched, unlike with the one's before it Tsukune felt himself slowly dragged into the movie until he lost sight of everything else. A full two hours later the movie was at it's final scene, the two main characters had overcome many hardships from everyone around them, and ended up together.

"Do you really love me?" the actress from the TV asked the hero expectantly.

"Yes my dear, a thousand… no a Million times yes, my love for you is greater than the universe is vast, deeper than any ocean, hotter and more intense than the sun. Now come let's fulfill our destiny and let our love carry us upon it's wings to heaven." The hero replied over-passionately.

The two of them were swallowed by one another's embrace. Their mouths were together, they were kissing passionately. A single transparent wing sprouted from the backs of each of the lovers. The two stopped kissing and began dancing slowly, a 4/4 measure waltz, with that the wings began to flap, working simultaneously to overcome gravity. The couple danced through the credits continuing to rise even after leaving the planet. Finally after the credits were over, they found themselves in an overwhelmingly white area with 2 magnificent, glowing, golden gates sticking from the ground.

A halo appeared atop their heads and their clothes changed to long flowing white robes. Hand in hand they walked towards the gate, which opened as they approached. The screen went black after they crossed over the gates to their promised land. A simple message faded into existence in the middle screen, "Fin"

Tsukune turned towards Mizore, "What did you think about that one?"

But Mizore had already fallen asleep, her mouth lie slightly open as she softly breathed through it. Tsukune felt a considerable warmth surging through him, and without turning off the lights or the TV, Tsukune laid down and wrapped his arm over Mizore's side. He closed his eyes, the last conscious thought he had was the hope of finding Mizore in his dreams.


	11. Chapter 11: Serenity

**Chapter 11: Serenity**

** AN:** hmmmm I seem to have fallen into a bad habit of only updating every 2 months that is something I am going to try to break anyway I had time off so I finally finished this chapter. As always enjoy and I don't even a tiny iota of rights to Rosario Vampire or "house of the dead."

The next morning Tsukune had successfully convinced Mizore to come shopping with him. Of course he ended up having to invite both his mother and his cousin along, he needed some time alone if he was going to be able to buy Mizore a Christmas present, but he didn't want to leave her by herself (they still have yet to talk about it but .

As they walked down the sidewalk on that cold, but sunny December morning Tsukune's eyes continuously drifted to Mizore. She wore a pink long-sleeved shirt with the words I'm a star written on the chest in glitter, with a shooting star underneath the words and a pair of well fitting jeans which snugly hugged her bottom, complimenting the her hips with each step. Both of which were articles she borrowed from Kyouko, but Tsukune couldn't help but feel that they looked miraculously better when worn by Mizore.

Tsukune smiled, watching Mizore as they continued up the sidewalk, He wasn't sure what he was going to get Mizore for Christmas, but they were on the way to the Mall and amongst the enormous variety of stores he was certain something would pop out at him. Tsukune had already discussed the course of action with his mom and cousin. They were going to occupy her all day by taking her browsing with them, while he slipped away and found her a gift.

They stepped inside the mall his mother was at the front and Tsukune was bringing up the rear, his steps were cautious and slow. He surveyed the area and spotted a large group of teenagers heading their way. Distancing himself from his female acquaintances, he waited for the group to part. When the crowd opened allowing the women to pass through the center. The entourage reformed just after passing Tsukune, stealthily he pivoted and blended in with the other people. Unbeknownst to Tsukune Mizore turned momentarily when he disappeared. Shortly afterwards when Kyouko would look back to ask Mizore if she wanted to go try on clothes, Mizore had vanished as well.

He soon split off and took his own way. The first shop he passed which caught his eye was a gaudy jewelry store called "Dale's." He didn't stay at the stand for long, a brief look at the prices and he knew there would be nothing here he could afford. Gloomily he set off from complaining that no one liked jewelry because it was too expensive.

He passed by many stores nothing seemed to pop out at him the way the lustrous jewelry did, but it didn't surprise him. The way the light reflected off those diamonds would hypnotize anyone. In desperation move he decided to try a Woman's clothing store "Jacqueline's". This kind of place was completely foreign to Tsukune; he was as lost as a little kid in the woods, he had no way of knowing what to look for and even worse, had he even known what he was looking for he wouldn't even know where to search. So Tsukune wandered the shop aimlessly; cursing his ill preparedness _' "Oh something will just pop out at me when I'm looking."_ '

A Female assistant approached Tsukune questioning him, "Can I help you?" The look on the face clearly portrayed her thoughts, _'I think you may be in the wrong place'_

"Uh, you see, I'm shopping for my girl-friend. No not my girlfriend, she's a girl who happens to be my friend. And well I want to get her something nice as a way of saying thanks, she has been taking care of me these past few days. That being said, I have no idea what to get her."

The woman; who's name tag Tsukune noticed stated Aya; responded cheerfully, "Well you can't go wrong with clothes, take this advice from a woman, every girl likes clothes. So do you know her measurements?"

"Not really, and I don't really know her taste in clothes, you see we got to school together and the only other thing I've seen her in other than her uniform was a kimono." Tsukune answered feeling embarrassed

"I'm sorry but I can't help you if you don't even know what you're looking for, come back when you have a better idea of what you're looking for. And if you don't want her to know that you are shopping for her try learning her size and style discreetly, maybe try asking one of her other female friends."

Tsukune nodded and exited, _'That was a bust, I basically just got kicked out.' _He sighed drearily and walked on passing many uninteresting shops. He had not been paying attention to where he was going and thus found himself in the food court. He was not entirely sure how he had gotten there, nor did he know how to get back to the main mall. For you see, he rarely came to the mall, and on the few occasions he did come his mom or cousin always just dragged him along. He never needed to know his way through the mall because it seemed as the route through this maze of stores had been engraved into their very souls. _'I really should have put more thought into this plan. One of those two should have definitely come with me.'_

"Number 216's up" a familiar deep voice resounded through the noisy cafeteria.

Tsukune didn't remember where he knew that voice from so he scanned the many different food stands. His eyes landed on a sushi kiosk and stopped. A tall Black man stood at the cash register handing over an order to a waiting customer, his long black hair was done up into thick cornrows which were bundled together in the back with a hair band, over that was a hair net. Realization dawned on him; it was James, from school. _'It must suck working the night before Christmas Eve.' _James raised his head, looking directly at Tsukune, a dangerously intense look on his face. Tsukune swallowed nervously then proceeded forward, that analyzing ripping every little secret from his heart.

He stopped at the counter, "I didn't know you worked here, how do you manage it during school?" Tsukune asked conversationally.

"I'm only working here seasonally, I need money to pay for the hotel I'm staying at." James replied stoically.

Tsukune then inquired, "Why are you staying at a hotel, don't you have family in the area?"

"No." was all James said.

Tsukune steered away from this conversation, "What kind of sushi is good here?"

"What's wrong those people in the mansion weren't filling enough?" James answered so only Tsukune's ear could pick up.

"What are you talking about?" Tsukune replied perhaps a little too calmly.

"I can see it in your aura, it's a deep dark red, you've killed a lot of men recently. And the only thing that's been on the news was the unexplained massacre at Kiba Mansion." James stated logically.

"You're wrong…." Tsukune began.

"Don't even waste your time trying to lie to me. Your souls cries out the blood-curdling scream of a murderer."

"You don't know anything, those men had to die, if not they were just going to keep coming after me and…" Tsukune began but stopped when he heard the sweet familiar sound of Moka's voice.

"Jaaaaaames, where are you?" James looked up at hearing his voice being called; Tsukune took this opportunity to mask himself in a passing mob.

It was still just too painful to see her right now; perhaps it would always be this way. Maybe it would be best if he severed all ties to her. That would certainly be the easy way out not to mention the less painful. But what would everyone say about him, would they call him a coward, immature, stupid. Perhaps he was all three, and perhaps he was more. Following the horde he managed to find himself back in the shopping area of the mall.

Tsukune broke from the crowd and slowly walked through the mall examining stores as he passed them. He stopped outside the display window of a stuffed animal shop by the name of "Barbara's Bears." Standing there was a lone, stuffed polar bear holding a heart; it stood a foot and a half tall. Written on the heart was, "Here's my heart, will you keep it safe?". A sign to the left of the bear told Tsukune that he was the last bear they had in stock.

He moved to enter the door but a woman's shrill shriek behind him caused him to turn around, "Help! He stole my purse!"

A shaggy looking man wearing ripped clothes was bolting towards the exit, purse in hand. Everyone else merely passed by about their business taking great precaution not to look in the crying woman's direction.

Sighing Tsukune ran to intercept him at the exit, tapping into a small amount of his demon energy for a boost of speed, "You better hope it's still there when I get back!" Tsukune yelled at his target.

The man turned his head to face Tsukune, slowing down slightly; this was a perfect opportunity for Tsukune. He leapt in to the air and double kicked the purse-snatcher's back. The force of impact sent the man flying into a trash can; knocking it over. Tsukune landed on his back hard, knocking the breath out of his lungs. Slowly Tsukune brought himself back to his feet and trudged towards the dirty looking man. He grabbed the purse out of his unconscious hands and limped back to the woman.

"Here's your purse ma'am." Tsukune wheezed out.

The woman hugged him tightly, "Thank you! Thank you so much, all my money's in here and it would devastate me if I weren't able to buy my children anything for Christmas."

"It's fine, really, just please let me go there's something I have to get."

"Oh." The woman replied releasing him suddenly, "I'm so sorry, I'll leave you to your business. Thank you again young man."

Tsukune turned around a small smirk on his face, it felt good being able to help someone. He looked up and his good mood was ruined, a clerk had just grabbed the bear out of the display window and was ringing it up for a happy looking family. Tsukune dropped to his knees, _'No good deed goes un-punished I suppose.'_ He didn't stay like that long, he remembered he was in the mall and he was drawing the un-approving stares of the passing people.

He stood back up and began his wandering through this labyrinth that people had named the mall anew. The loud noises of a multitude of video games being played brought Tsukune's attention the arcade. A sign outside announced that they were selling gift cards. _'A gift card huh, it's not a very thoughtful gift, but I'm stumped as to what else to get her. Besides she likes video games.'_ So Tsukune entered the arcade.

His heart missed a beat he could clearly Mizore was sitting in a chair all by herself staring intensely at a group of three boys playing "House of the Dead 3." Tsukune put himself flat against the wall and crept along to the counter drawing the stares of everyone in the arcade, several people lost at whatever game they were playing. He removed himself from the wall and walked towards the female employee working the cash register and prize exchange.

He felt an intense, chilling stare on his back, he recognized this stare, it was Mizore. Just as long as he didn't turn around she wouldn't know it was him. The uneasiness lifted after a moment, Tsukune sighed and turned around. Mizore had stood up and was heading towards the back of the room. She opened the door to the women's restroom and entered. Shortly thereafter the 3 boys who had been playing the shooter headed in the same direction.

Tsukune assumed they needed to relieve themselves as well, but they turned left and entered the women's restroom. His heart beat painfully suddenly as if someone were squeezing it. He wasn't sure exactly what had caused it, but the pain brought forth images of Mizore, Tsukune was certain that Mizore was in trouble. It was time to make good on his promise. The seal placed by his bracelet slowly began to crumble, but James's words from earlier came back to him at that moment.

_"What's wrong those people in the mansion weren't filling enough?"_

It was alright to use his powers but he couldn't kill these people, especially not here, so he needed to keep the demon within in check. He rushed towards the girl's bathroom. The noise from the games was too much and he couldn't hear inside, so he pushed hard against the door slammed slamming it into the wall. One boy held Mizore, one had a camera and the other approached menacingly.

"Come on lady, you're going to be on the next "Gamer Girls are Sluts", we're going to sell it on the internet. So why so shy, you're going to be a star, why not pose for the camera." The boy with his hands free said disgustingly.

The same defeated look Mizore had in the mansion appeared on her face, as if she had accepted this as her fate. Again the look pained Tsukune more than he could bear, these men had to be stopped. If he had to become a demon to protect Mizore, then so be it. Even his humanity was paltry in cost to her wellbeing.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Tsukune roared as the protective barrier suppressing his demonic nature shattered. With an explosion of demonic energy the mall began to shake violently.

The three aggressors turned their gaze onto Tsukune as he changed, his eyes turned blood red and a peculiar Tribal mark appeared on his neck, and finally his fangs extended to his lip. Their faces had all turned pale, Mizore had been released, dropped to the ground, even the camera splintered against the hard, marble floor. The three humans were completely paralyzed by Tsukune's demonic pressure.

"You truly are fools to attempt to assault my woman. Look at you, none of you can move, you can do nothing but watch as I kill your friends and then you. The only question is which one do I eat first?" Tsukune spoke calmly

"How about you?" He said pointing to the one who had been closing in on Mizore. "Though your blood will taste disgusting; dirtied by your sins, I'm not exactly a connoisseur."

The boy looked like he wanted to plead with Tsukune but even his throat had been paralyzed, instead it was Mizore who spoke up, "Run you idiots!"

Tsukune was taken aback and released his pressure unexpectedly. The three people ran from the bathroom crying and screaming, "Why did you stop me?" Tsukune asked perplexed.

"Please don't kill anyone, ever, always stay the same pure and gentle Tsukune, I don't want you to lose your scent." Mizore pleaded.

Tsukune smiled sadly, "If that is your wish," his mind and body calmed, his demonic qualities faded. A fleeting though ran through his head, _'My scent?'_ but it disappeared as she hugged him.

"So what were you doing at the arcade?" Tsukune inquired

After you disappeared I did the same thing, I only want to spend the day with you, and if there's one place where I knew you would find me, it would be the arcade." Mizore explained. "That being said, why did you leave me?"

"Well it's not like I wanted to, it's just I'm trying to find a present for you, and I wanted to surprise you." He replied not seeing any reason to hide it from her any longer.

"All I want for Christmas is for you to spend the day with me." Mizore said affectionately.

"I can do that every day, I wanted to get you something special for Christmas, but I kept running across problems every time I thought of something. So since I'll be spending the day with you anyway can you think of a second present you might want?"

Mizore pondered it; her thoughts drifted back to the picture frame in her dorm, then she answered, "If it not too much trouble could we take some pictures together. I'd like some pictures of us together, and I passed a photo booth on my way here."

"Eh, all you want is pictures, I guess that's fine. but let's buy two copies, that way we can each take care of our Christmas present at the same time."

Smiling, Mizore nodded, Tsukune offered his hand, she grabbed it as he pulled her gently to her feet. Mizore led the way to the door, she opened it and peered out, then pulled him along as she exited. She continued to lead Tsukune out the arcade and through the mall, until they finally arrived at their destination. It was currently in use, another couple was chatting excitedly inside as the machine inside flashed for their pictures.

"Don't worry about it I'll pay for it," the girl inside said, "you keep your money for your rent."

'_Moka!' _Tsukune suddenly became aware that he and Mizore were holding hands; he released it and set his arms to his sides, bracing himself for the impact.

Moka and James exited from the photo booth engrossed in conversation, though James shot a glance in their direction, he made no further sign of having acknowledged them. Moka paid the machine and after verifying the correct amount it printed out the pictures.

"Wow they turned out real good," Moka exclaimed, "Look at this one James."

"If you say so." James replied.

Anger seeped in Tsukune's stomach, he managed to contain it, keeping the other's from becoming aware of his inner turmoil. After a brief over-looking of the pictures Moka looked up. Her mouth opened in surprise.

"What are you guys doing here together?" Moka asked

"Well I, I mean we, that is we were…" He continued to trip over his words.

Mizore interrupted him, "We're on a date."

Moka was visibly taken aback by this, "A date? When did you guys start going steady?"

Mizore grabbed at her lover's hand, he numbly accepted it, "Last night Tsukune confessed to me." The feverish way in which she was speaking was as if she had just won some grand tournament.

"Ah, is that so Tsukune?" Moka asked directing her attention towards him.

Tsukune couldn't seem to find his voice so he nodded weakly.

James stepped forward, "I know that was you earlier, I'm warning you don't kill anyone else. You can only tarnish your soul so much before it's irreparable."

This person really made his blood boil, "Just to let you know next time I'll stop you." James said threateningly.

The demon within him stirred, raged on by the insolence of this human, "Like you could."

Already Tsukune had begun his subtle transformation and without warning he executed a short-right jab as a feint, then immediately threw a wide left punch enforced with his demon energy. Fluidly, James swung his right arm in the path of Tsukune's fist, throwing it off course.

"Not bad, if I hadn't been able to block that I'd have been dead, but it doesn't matter. You'll never be able to hit me, it's no different than those golems. Now for baring your fangs against me, you must pay the price." James replied dropping into his stance.

His left foot was placed in front of him facing towards Tsukune, while his right foot was horizontal, placed behind him. His feet made a line from one another, his knees were slightly bent but his back was straight. His elbows were bent slightly, his arms were extended in front of his body positioned to be in quick access of all vulnerable tagets. and his wrists were bent down.

James brought his leg up and quickly snapped it, "Stop!" the foot stopped before it crashed against Tsukune's face, "You are absolutely not allowed to fight with my friends."

Tsukune swallowed visibly, cold sweat began to drip from his forehead. If Moka hadn't stopped James, he would have ended up in the hospital. Moka led James away scolding him for fighting.

"What did he mean don't kill anyone else? You haven't killed anyone." Mizore wondered aloud.

"Who knows." Tsukune responded stoically, "Anyway let's take those pictures."

Every picture Mizore tried different poses each time a forced smile on her face, but Tsukune just stared on blankly at the lens. 9 Pictures had been taken and not one yet looked like a happy couple, _'It's time for drastic measures,_' Mizore told herself_. _

"Tsukune" she called his name seductively.

He turned to face her, her arms slowly entwined themselves around his neck, she raised herself slightly, so their faces could meet halfway. At first their lips only brushed against each other, then Mizore closed in with her mouth open. Tsukune's lips quickly parted, and his hands soon were around Mizore's back. She was pulled in to him, their chests now resting firmly against one another. The camera shutter clicked it's final time and after a moment the booth beeped signaling it was ready to be paid. But Mizore and Tsukune stayed clenched together, eyes shut tight, their tongues had met at the bridge created by their open mouths and danced together wildly.

Both were inexperienced in the matter so it was moist and a little sloppy, but a satisfying and romantic first kiss between a new couple none the less. Tsukune was the first to pull away doing so slowly and reluctantly.

"Much as I'd like to continue I think it may be about time to be heading home." Tsukune said staring deep into his lover's eyes.

"Okay." She retorted distantly

A tingling much like an electric shock coursed through her body stealing away her muscle function. She allowed herself to be lead out of the booth and waited patiently as Tsukune paid for the pictures. 20 pictures were printed out Tsukune grabbed out two plastic bags from a dispenser on the machine. He divided the pictures into 2 sets and put each set in a bag, he kept one in his hand and handed the other to Mizore.

She accepted it gladly, "merry Christmas love." He muttered quietly and embarrassedly.

"Merry Christmas Tsukune," she piped up in response.

A Christmas present is made better not by how much was spent, but by how much thought aand feelings were put into it. In his way of thinking these pictures were worth more to him than a mountain of gold.

Tsukune blindly walked through the mall, it was large but if he just kept walking he was bound to find an exit somewhere. A sudden strong vibration in his pants startled him, it happened another two times until he realized it was his cell phone. He pulled it from his pocket, the miniature screen alerted him of the incoming call from Kyouko.

He flipped it open and stuck the receiver to his ear, "Hello?"

"Tsukune! Me and Aunt Kasumi lost Mizore, we don't know where she went. We've been scouring the mall looking for her but can't seem to find her." Kyouko said frantically.

"You guys don't have to worry about it, she's right here with me. So where are you at?" Tsukune responded

"Eh, she's with you, so that whole thing was just a lie, you wanted to spend the day alone with Mizore so you fed us that BS about needing to go Christmas shopping. You sly bastard." Kyouko accused him mockingly.

"That's not exactly true I ran into her while I was looking for a present, and to make a long story short we both gave each other our presents already."Tsukune explained, "Now where are you at?"

"You already gave each other your presents? Don't tell me your present was s-s-se-se…?" Kyouko began

Tsukune immediately cut her off, "No it's nothing like that we just took some pictures together, now could you please tell me where you and mom are, I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Oh," She said as if her sense of reality had finally returned, we're at "Cool Moisture" it's a body lotion store." Tsukune looked up, on the other side directly in front of their location was that store.

From the shop window he could see Kyouko pacing back and forth cell phone pressed to her ear, "Alright I'll see you in about thirty seconds," was all he said before shutting his phone.

He walked across the horizontal crossway to reach the other side; he pushed open the door and the chime above rung out announcing his arrival. .

Kyouko looked up and smiled at the two walking in, "Kasumi, they're here."

His mom poked her head out from an aisle; upon recognizing them she waved warmly at them then slowly made her way over the other three. With their entire band back together they headed out of the mall towards home. By the time they made it outside the sun was still in the sky yet it had begun it's slow descent towards the western sky.

Tsukune checked his watch and announced the time, "3:30, we really spent that much time in there? No wonder I'm so hungry."

Kyouko's stomach grumbled on cue, "So why don't we stop by a restaurant? It's been a while since we were all able to go out." Kasumi suggested

No one debated the suggestion instead they let Kasumi lead the way to a nice family restaurant. They stopped outside "Kyoto Inn," a mid-scale restaurant, the food here wasn't cheap but it was nothing compared to the steakhouse Hayate had taken them to. They stepped inside; it was lively filled with many patrons as would be expected on the day before Christmas Eve. When they asked for a table of four the hostess gave them a number and told them to expect at least a 25 minute wait. They waited patiently, their stomachs growling more furious than on the walk, as they were being enticed by the delicious aromas mixing together and wafting towards the waiting area.

After an incredibly long 20 minutes the hostess called their number, another woman was at her side, "Alright your table is ready, this is Natsume, she will be your waitress for tonight, and she will lead you to your table. Please enjoy your time here tonight and let her serve you."

Natsume started towards an empty booth then looked back to ensure they were following. When they started moving forward so did she again. Mizore ended up sitting together with Tsukune in one seat, while Kasumi and Kyouko occupied the other.

She handed them each a menu and then left, "I'll be back for your orders after I get your water." She called out as she retreated towards the kitchen.

The wait wasn't long at all before she came back with four cups of water on her tray, "has everyone decided what they want tonight?" she asked as she set their drinks down.

"We'd like a large pot of sukiyaki, Extra beef please, and 4 bowls." Kasumi answered.

With their order taken she left the 4 people to converse amongst themselves, "So Tsukune you said you took some pictures with Mizore… So how about you show us?" Kyouko spoke up.

"Sure" he replied, handing the bag over without thinking about it.

His mother and cousin crowded closer together and examined each picture slowly, after the third one his mom stated her observation, "You don't look like you enjoyed those pictures very much."

They continued to flip through the pictures; they were now on the eighth one, Tsukune suddenly remembered what the tenth picture was but it was too late. If he tried to take the pictures away their curiosity would only heighten and then they definitely wouldn't give them back, instead he steeled himself for their reactions, whatever they would be. Finally they were on the last picture and both of their faces lit up.

"Awww, that's so adorable." Kyouko exclaimed excitedly.

"Was that your guy's first kiss?" his mother asked, Tsukune nodded his head but after a moment Mizore shook hers sadly.

"Which is it?" she inquired further, "Have you kissed before or not."

All emotion fled from Tsukune as he answered, "it was my first kiss but not hers, please don't question us any further."

His mother looked as If she wanted to ask more, but she nodded her head in acceptance. They had successfully extinguished all conversation until the food arrived. After the food was placed in front of them they began their normal lively dinner conversation. Tsukune told everyone about the troubles he had come across in his search for a gift for Mizore. He left out the encounter with the boys in the arcade and running across Moka and James. After he was done with his story everyone else went over what they did in the mall. It seemed that Kyouko and his mother were the only ones who had an enjoyable time.

Even with the four of them they were unable to finish the soup, but everyone ate to their hearts content and left Kyoto Inn in a good mood. Everyone feeling tired and full remained quiet on the walk to the bus stop and the ride home. The sun had completely set while they were in the restaurant. The closest stop was 8 blocks from their house; the temperature had dropped significantly and continued to decline as they marched on.

Tsukune and Mizore walked a few paces behind the 2 woman also in silence; Tsukune thoughtlessly fingered the holy bracelet on his left arm all the way until they made it home. Kyouko had been invited to stay the night by Tsukune's mom; she accepted the invitation happily, but went home to change into her pajamas.

"I'm exhausted Tsukune I think I'm just going to go to sleep, keep the door unlocked for Kyouko." She said through a fake yawn, then headed for the stairs, "Oh yeah try not to get too loud tonight, people are going to be sleeping."

His mom laughed before going up the stairs, Tsukune just stared on, everyone seemed to be getting the wrong idea about him and Mizore. Tsukune followed in his mom's footsteps and climbed the stairs, Mizore followed directly behind him. They stepped inside his room, Tsukune dropped on his bed, his back lay flat against the surface but his knees rested over the bed, his feet dangling down to the floor. Mizore shut the door gently behind her then headed towards Tsukune.

She placed her knees on the bed locking against Tsukune's side, she bent over him and placed her mouth upon his. Tsukune immediately accepted the kiss, they continued to kiss as Tsukune's arms snaked around her back. He wanted to be closer to her, so he brought her crashing down upon him. Their kiss picked up, more passionate, melting away the barrier that separated them, but still Tsukune felt he was not close enough to his lover. He squeezed her tightly, a strange rushing emotion began to take over his senses, until he no longer recognized himself.

"Please, Mizore..." He begged her moving his mouth a millimeter from hers.

"Of course" she said her voice slightly husky.

Mizore joined him again in the kiss, her hands begun sneaking their way down to his pants. The Tsukune that he knew himself as was now very distant, an aggravating sexual desire had all but consumed him. His pants were now unbuttoned, she was working on the zipper now.

A loud crack awakened Tsukune followed by a sickening rushing sensation in his stomach. He placed his left hand over his eyes to keep himself from puking Mizore let out a small gasp.

"Tsukune, your locket."

"Huh?" Tsukune said lifting his left arm, the small red stone connected to the silver chain that kept his demonic power controlled had cracked in half.

It was a clean cut as if done by an impossibly sharp blade. Tsukune was frightened, that was the only thing keeping him in control. He pushed Mizore to the side gently and sat up. He covered his face with his hands and appeared to be deep in thought.

After a short while he spoke, "Mizore, tonight you're going to have to sleep in the guest bedroom with Kyouko, and please stay away from me from now on. Without that seal I'm too dangerous to be around, so please, just stay away from me."

"But you'd never hurt me, no matter how far the demon has itself rooted in you, I know you are too gentle to harm me" there was a short pause. "Besides how are we going to stay boyfriend and girlfriend if we never see each other?" Mizore Protested, tears forming in her eyes.

"Please Mizore, even if it's only a one in a million chance that I'll hurt you I refuse to take it. I promised I would protect you from all harm, that includes any that I may cause. So I'm going to have to break it off, we can't see each other anymore."

Mizore fled from the room, she didn't understand him at all, she completely trusted him, Tsukune would never hurt her, why was he going to break up with her? Was it all her fault, because of what she let happen to her? Tsukune repeatedly had to use his powers to save her, and because of that his seal had weakened. Life was so painful, finally she had made the man she loved accept her feelings and two days later she lost him. She ran to the first floor and out the door, but crashed into something hard. She bounced off and fell to the ground on her butt.

"Where are you running to at this hour?" Kyouko questioned her as she offered her hand.

Mizore shook her head furiously in response, "Did you two have a fight?" she inquired further.

This time Mizore offered nothing in retaliation, "I'll go talk to Tsukune about it, for now why don't you wait on the couch?"

Kyouko grabbed Mizore and lifted her from the ground, then led her back into the house. She set her down on the couch before disappearing up into the hallway.

Tsukune examined his broken charm thoughtfully, the headmaster had warned him such a day may come, and that the seal was irreplaceable. Finally it cracked so the only future he had to look forward to was his humanity slowly being eaten away by the demon within. He had only one option, the coward's way out, he had to run away, run from everything and everyone he loves to protect them.

Tsukune opened the window and had only half of his body out the window before his door opened, "Tsukune we need to ta…. What the hell are you doing?" Kyouko said as she entered the room.

Tsukune sighed, "Just getting some fresh air." He lied.

"Anyway, we need to talk, it seems you had a fight with Mizore and she's pretty torn up about it. So you better get down there and apologize for whatever you did, she's the overly-sensitive kind, you're going to have to watch your steps around her for the early stages of dating." Kyouko explained

"What makes you think I did anything?" Tsukune demanded

Kyouko stood there staring intently at him, the words on her mind need not be said, "Fine I'll admit it's my fault, but I won't apologize! I was in the right."

"Have you learned nothing?" She asked him bewildered, "Apologizing is not about who was right and who was wrong, it's about moving past you're differences and making amends. Relationships aren't based around facts they're based around love, and if you love her, if you really do Tsukki, then you'll never hurt her. And if you do, then it is your responsibility to apologize, if she loves you and you're sincere I'm sure she'll forgive you."

Kyouko continued, "Now if you don't get down there and apologize to Mizore I'm gonna kick your butt so hard you won't be able to sit for a year."

"Thanks." Tsukune whispered then continued in his normal voice, "I suppose you're right, I don't know if I won't even try. So I'll give your way a shot for now."

"That's good to hear; now I'll leave you two love birds alone so you can make up properly." She said teasingly as she left the room.

Tsukune slowly made his way through the open doorway and down the stairs. He stopped in the doorway to the living room, Mizore was lying on the couch, from this position he could not tell if she was asleep or not.

"Even if you can't hear me right now Mizore, I am sorry. I was an idiot, I was too scared to even try to deal with this, I just wanted to run away from everything, because it's easier than fighting. But I feel that being together with you is something worth fighting for. So I'm not going to surrender, because I still have that plan for the future, together with you, at all costs."

Mizore shifted but she gave no further reaction, "Well I suppose you're asleep right now so I'll apologize in the morning."

"You were being an idiot." Mizore replied from the couch sounding downtrodden, "and you were being selfish, you wanted to keep your pain to yourself," her voice suddenly cheered up, "But it's alright because that wasn't Tsukune speaking, that's the inner demon. This time I'm letting you off the hook easily, just make sure that I never have to speak him again. I like the real Tsukune better."

Mizore stood and walked over to him, she placed her soft, cold palm against his cheek, a pleasant shiver ravaged his body, she leaned in and planted a soft peck on his lips "That is an oath, I will do anything to protect you next time, even if I have to sacrifice myself to do so."

Tsukune smiled then they both moved in for a deeper kiss, "Stealing my lines, really how lame can you get?" He said breaking the kiss

"Like you have any room to be calling me lame, the way you get so worked up over little things, you should become an soap opera actor, you're melodramatic enough." She retorted mirroring his smile.

Their kiss continued after their mocking, Tsukune's worries all melted away, someway, somehow they would make this work.


End file.
